


Color My World

by AnneLaurant



Category: W.I.T.C.H.
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Awkward Flirting, Bad Humor, Denial, Drama, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Literal Sleeping Together, Misidentification of Feelings, Reconciliation, Relationship Upgrade, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, Swearing, awkward moments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-12
Updated: 2017-03-30
Packaged: 2018-09-17 01:40:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 30,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9298490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnneLaurant/pseuds/AnneLaurant
Summary: It's winter in Heatherfield, and Cedric seems to have reached a winter with Orube - cold, difficult, and unsure. Does he care about his situation? Not so much. Does he care about hers? Yes. Does he mind that it stemmed from Orube asking the Oracle to give him one last chance? Definitely. He doesn't know why she keeps invading his mind, but he lets her, anyway.And now, he just wasted that little chance of reconciliation she gave him, with a single sentence. Who knew that words were these strong? Damn it.





	1. Chapter 1

Yes. Finally. The season turned and soon the corners of Heatherfield was covered by patches and blankets of white. Snow fell continuously in an almost hypnotic manner, neither too harsh or too gentle, and the breeze blew with the fresh smell of evergreen. It was winter now, even if, as the newspaper said, it had come a little early. While the crystalized droplets made it hard to walk around outside, Cedric felt a little happier. This kind of weather was perfect. He was more used to this kind of temperature, and the gloomy atmosphere of the sky reminded him of home.

The earthlings weren’t sharing his sentiments, though. Some of them had been decorating their houses with festive colors and shapes. Some were singing all too loudly and happily. Some were practicing intimate gestures in public by using the cold as an excuse. (And they’ve been practicing that last bit since fall.) Ugh. Disgusting.

Then again, thankfully, some of Cedric’s customers could be smart and pleasing. A lot of them decided to stop coming by, and the better ones ordered books in advance or hurried home quickly after borrowing a title or two. The season meant that he could shorten the store hours. While that implied that profit would come slow, he could use the opportunity to have his tiny castle all to himself. No humans, no guardians, no Oru—

So he thought. Cedric’s happy musing and daydreaming ended shortly upon the registry of an image, one with an upset woman with rather warm, feline eyes. Speak of the devil. The first person in his store, despite the sign still being “Closed”.

“I don’t like it either,” Orube started, “Let me in.”

“Who said you weren’t welcome?” Cedric groaned. He hadn’t even said anything yet.

“You’re so apathetic.”

And yet, her little words could shut him up. Right. Well, fine. He did feel a little sorry, especially regarding the last few… events.

Cedric’s eyes followed after the thick coat Orube wore. He was silent and confused and his chest felt like it could burst, like how he simply stared at her with shock, along with the guardians, when she begged the Oracle to give the Meridianite fugitive another chance. The Council was in an uproar, of course, and Endarno, ever the grumpy Basiliadean Elder he was, disagreed at once. Elder Yan Lin gave her input, remembering a former friend… Nerissa, was that the name of the former Keeper?

Then, the current Keeper, Will… she stepped in and took responsibility for what happened with Matt Olsen and the Book of Elements, despite her anger and disappointment. The other guardians were reluctant. Oh, who could blame them? They were little girls, and as little girls, they wanted nothing to do with so big a responsibility as this, choosing to relax in his bookshop without minding what he’s been doing around Heatherfield. But who knew they could be a little more mature too? The Fire Guardian, Taranee, she reminded her little friends of a former mission they accomplished, and they followed Will’s lead.

What lead to this? Nothing but a little creature, one from Basiliade called ‘Wee’. Wee escaped from Orube’s eyes and hold, and distracted by the sudden relief, she never noticed the sudden loss of the cause of her small allergy. It’d been hiding around his house, the little damned critter, and heard a little conversation Cedric held with Ludmoore. All Wee had to do was struggle and scream, and Orube heard that from the streets, and… well. Walls broken, books scattered, plans foiled.

And still, despite being the one who had been hurt the most and the one who felt the most betrayed, Orube was the one who had the bravest and earnest heart to ask for another chance. For him.

“Don’t feel sorry.” Orube snapped at him, holding up some festive decorations in her hand. Against her skin and her face, she looked like the type of person who’d join the earthlings in their excessive rituals. Cedric held out his hand to receive it, though wearing a confused expression.

“What? Will told me you need some decorations around here. I assume you know how to pretty up the place with these, because I’m a total disaster.”

A total disaster it was. Cedric hadn’t meant for that to happen. Oh, wait. He should’ve seen it happening, because he’d been a little careless with her too. She threw away her pride as a warrior and her dignity as a guardian. She even willingly gave her powers up, and watching him became Orube’s mission. A solo mission, just for her. Her redemption, his redemption.

The guardians no longer had an obligation to do the babysitting, but they still had an obligation to rescue Matt Olsen, pass the test of the elements, defeat Ludmoore, and deactivate the magic of the Book of Elements. By some miracle, the girls managed to get inside the book, take Matt back, and return home. (Cedric thought that they forced it open, and being humans, they got sucked in too. But being guardians, the girls put up a fight against the weak Ludmoore.) Since then, the alchemist had chosen to stay quiet. They’ve merely went by clues they managed to scrap out of old books to discover where the elemental stones that Ludmoore was after, came from.

Meanwhile, Orube was stuck here, in this magical disaster called Heatherfield, going back and forth Villa Rudolph and Ye Olde Bookshop (sometimes University of Heatherfield and Heatherfield News, meeting with a William Korter), watching over him with very cautious eyes. She had no power, save for her heightened senses and her ability to sneak in without getting noticed, and instead of using them to, what, save the world or prevent some big bad from conquering it, she was using it to ‘babysit’ him.

It was very dishonorable for a Basiliadean, for a warrior, if Cedric were to be asked.

“Well? Where am I supposed to put this?”

And he felt way too dishonored, himself. He stared at the garland in her hand, and felt an obligation to answer.

“Over there, by the mirror. Make it follow the arch.”

Good thing she was in the mood to hold the conversation, because he can’t stand it anymore.

“Do you have anything to hold it up with?”

“The girls left me with tape, wire, and... what was it again... thumbtacks, was it, the small ones with the sharp points? Oh wait, not those. They’ll ruin the walls.”

“They’re helpful. The girls, I mean. But sometimes, they mess it up.”

He couldn’t stand the ugly silence in the many weeks that had passed. This was the first time in such an agonizing period that they actually talked decently, and by decently, that meant without one-sided conversations, one-word responses, and the hostile air that hung between them. At least for now, he had managed to get rid of the first two.

“Don’t they always mess up?”

“No thanks to you.” Oh wow. She hadn’t forgiven him at all. He didn’t like her tone of voice at all, either.

“Oh? I’ve only heard of it from their chattering, but apparently you also messed up one of their past missions.”

Maybe he shouldn’t have brought that up. Cedric felt the tension rise again as the pause dragged on into the silence of shuffling objects. Did he somehow hurt her pride?

Just as he opened his mouth to apologize (wow, he actually wanted to apologize in spite of himself and what had just transpired minutes ago!), Orube spoke again. “I was immature.”

Oh. She was simply finding the right words.

“You? Immature? I can’t imagine.”

“I don’t think anybody in the world haven’t ever made a mistake.”

Haha. Wow. He knew that was directed at him, the way she said the last part. Now she was pushing it.

“My greatest one was meeting you.”

Cedric made sure he said that with a poisonous intonation. And no sooner when he uttered the words, his chest felt hollow and shivers ran down his spine. His hands felt cold, even colder than the weather, and his mouth ran dry. When he turned from the wall to look at Orube, she had sent some books flying towards him. One of them hit his face – if she still had her strength, all of those would’ve knocked him down.

“Really? Then my greatest mistake was asking the Oracle to spare you!”

Cedric’s recovery only spared him enough time to glance at her as she hurriedly walked out the door in her fury, but that was ample time enough to notice that a tear had escaped from her eye. Finally. He was alone again. No. Not ‘finally’. Damn it. That was the expression. Damn it. He was alone again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After a bajillion years, I finally decided to post this thing. Hooray!  
> Since majority of the story is now done, updates will be weekly.
> 
> Little note on the title: taken from the song "Color My World" by the American jazz band, Chicago.
> 
> Extra note: I still can't understand how AO3 works. T_T


	2. Chapter 2

One week had passed in the blink of an eye, and Cedric was currently processing the situation.

A group of three, two men and a woman, went in. They weren’t just any people, because who’d brave the cold, dank, dark weather outside? A sudden snowstorm was in the vicinity, and it was expected to last until the weekend. Fools, only fools, Cedric supposed, until the woman introduced herself and her friends. Oh. Journalists. Like William Korter. Like Orube.

She wasn’t coming by, but her possessions were all over his place, thanks to her insistence to stay with him during that agonizing period of little verbal contact. She hadn’t dropped by either, not in his field of vision anyways, but in some way, she made sure somebody she knew was watching him.

The telltale sign was how this one man had spoke, "Rebecca this, Rebecca that" around the shop. Her little friend had black hair, tanned skin, and nimble fingers that passed through books that talk of music and its history. This one seemed a little… creepier than the rest of his brethren. The way he said Orube’s alias simply had a different tone to it, and she was an airhead not to notice.

Oh, but what was Cedric’s business in that? Good thing he’d only be around in the morning. Wait. Humans had jobs and they were out of their houses for five days out of seven; why was this guy wasting precious time in some lonesome bookshop? This person had way too much time off his hands, because he’s never borrowed or bought any books before; he only read them inside, and he never left until he had to eat, or go for a bathroom break, or to go home (or at least, that’s how Cedric imagined it).

Why was Orube friends with this freak anyway?

Actually, why was she friends with inquisitive beings?

The freak didn’t come today, but the three journalists did. The woman, who called herself Isabel Pilgrim, was their leader. She seemed sharp, bold, and serious, and her light-colored features only accentuated her traits. She seemed the type who was straight down for business. The dark-skinned man next to her was called Majid something... Cedric couldn’t discern the other part of his name. He was a lot friendlier, and by friendly, Cedric meant very inquisitive. Majid made him uncomfortable. The last guy with the brown hair (or was it a brownish blond of sorts?) looked modest and helpful… and grumpy for some reason. He mumbled out his name while looking around: Joshua Prescott (or something like that). Hmm. Now where did Cedric hear something like that before...

Right. Back to work. Isabel told him that Rebecca was supposed to have reserved some books for them. Oh hell, Cedric merely sensed her presence, but Orube never allowed herself to be seen, or even be heard, if ever she was there, at all.

Who ever said that she wasn’t creative?

“I don’t remember a Rebecca Rudolph asking for some books,” Cedric said. Though he was annoyed on the inside, he kept his usual business smile up.

“That’s weird,” Majid retorted, “I mean, Josh here recommended this place to her.”

Oh. So this human being was the reason. Cedric felt like he had to obliterate this Joshua Prescott into oblivion. He knew that wouldn’t really achieve anything, but he felt like beating someone up. Ugh. He had gotten too emotional in his stay here on Earth. A waste of time to dwell on such feelings.

“Well, we can’t waste time,” Isabel paused to look for something in her bag, then handed a slip of paper, “Do you have these titles?”

Cedric took the small note, then handed it back after a while. “I think you’ll find most of these in the fourth shelf to the right. I’ll go look for the other two here.”

“Thanks.”

Cedric turned around to look for the books, but he knew that somebody was still watching him. It was probably that Joshua; he was a little cautious. Oh yes, it was he, because his name had been called, something about lazing around.

Right. He shouldn’t laze around either. Cedric found the books and laid them out on his table. He listed the titles and their names on his record. So far, so good.

Then he felt that somebody was staring. It seemed that humans had the ability to feel that, but most of them ignored it, in the hustle and bustle of their busy, hectic lifestyle. Cedric would ignore it, knowing that his customers had found their books, but their private conversation simply had one message he couldn’t just ignore.

Joshua was not just staring. He was glaring. His companions noticed too. Cedric tried not to comment as he made his usual business talk.

“Alright. A total of six books. Please come again, Miss Pilgrim and friends.”

Joshua didn’t budge. The sourness and bitterness of his frown was starting to irritate Cedric. Why did this guy hate him, anyway?

“…is there something wrong, Sir?” Cedric asked, trying to wear a concerned smile.

“…no, nothing at all.” But the whispered, “I wish there were” did not escape Cedric’s ears. He had to say something about Orube, didn’t he? No, he shouldn’t. But something just made him speak.

“Miss Rudolph passes by often, I know, but she’s never taken a book outside at all. A curious girl, I should say. She has a love for learning about Heatherfield, doesn’t she?”

Of course, she did. Orube read and learned about Heatherfield to pass time while babysitting. She did a lot of other things too, mostly exploring the neighborhood, but actually taking a book back to Villa Rudolph? Never happened. She only went back there to pick up her clothes, probably to also do more things (like really, girls and their strange rituals), but since the incident in Kandrakar, she’d been spending more time here in his house, spending the night here too.

…until last week.

Ugh. Why did Cedric have to remember these horrible things? No, no, they’re not all that horrible, Orube brought this to herself. Alright. Maybe he had been unfair to her, but—

“…she told us she’d do it. She wouldn’t just break a commitment.” Joshua’s eyes were on fire. He’d been waiting for an opening.

“I haven’t seen her this week.” Cedric hoped that he’d have just said a lie, but instead, he was saying the truth. It… wasn’t pleasing.

“We haven’t either. Neither did the young girls she hangs out with. Mister Korter is also worried.”

Worried. That was the term. Worried sick, and at his wits’ end. Joshua glared at him like a possessed man who’d lost his precious treasure, whom he so cherished and obsessed over, did.

Obsessed. That was the term for that creepy guy Orube had been ‘friends’ with. That person was obsessed about her. Disgusting.

Then again, Cedric had observed other male patrons of his gaze at her. They seemed to hold Orube in their eyes, as a marble statue of a goddess come to life. Eyes filled with wonder and amazement, following her figure wherever she went. The rude, nasty ones would steal a glance and whistle, or dare put a hand on her. Orube had dodged them all flawlessly, and that had made her a lot more desirable for them.

As for women themselves, Cedric had his own followers… err, fans. They generally felt threatened at her presence, and his fans would grab all opportunity to get his attention on them when Orube entered the bookshop. They’d watch her closely, and sometimes, try to humiliate her. Cedric would attempt to stop them, and so far, Orube had only been complaining of the weird habits of his patrons.

Well, Cedric would agree with most of them. Orube was, _is_ beautiful, of course, a strong beauty encompassing seriousness and grace. Her face carried a different elegance and pride, and her figure had healthy, pleasing proportions, probably due to her warrior identity and origins, from what he can tell with the way her clothes embraced her body.

Ugh, here he was again, thinking about her, thinking about literally embracing her and getting close to her warmth, that foreign but welcome Basiliadean warmth. But, even if she had been practically human since Kandrakar, did she still retain that side of her? She probably did; she still kept that beauty of hers close to her heart, and she still had traces of her superhuman abilities. More than that, Orube was fiercely loyal, loyal to her origins, despite her adaptability to humanity, and even before, her loyalty simply… shone bright.

“Um, Josh, I think we should…”

Cedric blinked. Right. He needed to shoo them away.

“I know you’re worried, Mister Prescott, but I know nothing and your gaze is too intense. You probably might want to reserve that for your enemies.”

“I do,” the other man replied, rather quickly and heated, “The last time we talked, Rebecca avoided mentioning your bookshop, despite how often she usually talks about it.”

Memories from his last meeting from Orube flooded into Cedric’s mind. Oh, how he regretted not being able to practice shutting up at that moment! Joshua was correct, but how Cedric hated admitting so!

His smile dropped. “I’m not the only one who passes by here.” Cedric was out of believable lies.

“You stay here, you _live_ here! _You_ should know!”

At this point, his friends were trying to get him out of the place. Joshua was on the verge of bursting out and picking up a fight. Cedric tried not to add kindling to the fire, but Joshua simply had to dump it all.

“You and Rebecca seem way _too_ close! Too close to be just, _just_ shopkeep and customer! She talks way too much about this place! She just seems so happy about going here, and even if she was down, she tried to smile when she talked about _you_!”

Cedric didn’t want to show a pained expression, so he simply turned. Still, something told him he should speak, even a little. Even a little lie would do.

“…the bottomline is that, I don’t know. I’m sorry about your friend, but I haven’t seen Rebecca around these days.”

The bottomline is, Josh and friends, they need to get out, get _out, get. Out_. Cedric didn’t want to talk about her anymore. Cedric didn’t want to think anymore.

But he had to. He had to deal with her friends, and, just to his luck, her creepy friend.

Curses. Why did he think of saying her name just as the creep entered? Cedric’s head hurt, pounding and begging for some, any form of relief. For now, he found it in sitting down and simply listening to the conversation.

“What? Rebecca… hasn’t been hanging around here?”

“Ray…”

“You’re her neighbor, aren’t you? You haven’t seen her either?”

“No, I hadn’t…”

“But you live right next to her?”

“I haven’t seen her come home—”

“But she attended her classes, right?”

“Just her classes on Monday and Tuesday, and then she didn’t show up.”

“So Mister Korter says…”

“I assumed she’ll be here or something…”

“She’s _always_ here. I didn’t think they’d have a fight or something.”

“A fight?”

“Yeah. It just happens sometimes I guess?”

“But don’t you think she’s acting a little stranger?”

“She doesn’t make people _this_ worried, doesn’t she?”

“She doesn’t just go out either… I just know that she’s been here for her research.”

And then, tension and silence hung heavily in the air again. Cedric was trying to soothe the ache in his head by massaging his temples and letting things happen as they happen, but, to no avail, as he listened to the next words.

“So… wouldn’t he…?”

“I don’t think they’d—?”

“But, isn’t she _with_ Mister Cedric here?”

“…what?”

“Huh?”

The implications of what was said was simply… baffling. Orube hated him. Orube _scared_ him. He could not think of any positive emotion to associate with her, right now. No, why did he have to think of emotions for her? Why _her_?

And in his confusion, the pain in his head, four pairs of eyes cornering him, and the mere fact that Orube was missing and nobody knew where she was, Cedric’s mouth just went ahead of him.

He dropped his façade. He might not be a hero, or one of those goody-goody actors, but he cared about Orube. That was undeniable. He cared about her, and it wasn’t pleasing at all to not have her around. Humanity was unbearable, but she made it much more enjoyable. Her friends looked like they were all ready to kill him. Cedric, at this point… he was almost ready to kill himself if it made the world a little better for her.

Damn, he deserved misfortune for crossing her, the only one who’d been truly considerate towards him, and this was how he repaid her.

“…we had an argument,” he started, “We had an argument and I couldn’t think of anything better to say.”

He still didn’t understand, but he was ready to become honest for her sake. She was so powerful, human or not.

“I told her that meeting her was a mistake. Not just any mistake – the worst mistake I made in my life. Telling her that is my real, actual worst mistake.”

He used to have a way with words, and now he’s lost it. He’d lost it. (Perhaps, along with how he’d lost her a week ago.)

He lost focus too, when he was sent tumbling to the ground. Cedric registered that his cheek hurt, that the insides of his head momentarily shook, and that a small argument took place, a commotion of having to get rid of people from his bookshop. He looked up, and saw Joshua Prescott, a man that he is, red-faced with tears and a clenched fist shaking in front of them.

“I sent her here!” he declared, pushing off his friends who tried to calm him down, “I told her about this place and I’d trusted this place to treat her well! I was wrong! I was… ugh…!”

His two friends ushered him out the door, shooting furious glances and gripping their borrowed books in a monstrous fashion that almost seemed inhuman. The freak, not a freak, Orube’s neighbor was left. He approached Cedric with a dark face.

“She’s strong,” the other man growled, “But who knew words could break her down? Perhaps, I should only let her hear my music even if she doesn’t want to, if only to protect from freaks like you.”

“Hah, right,” Cedric bitterly remarked, not thinking anymore at all, “She _is_ a freak herself!”

Cedric felt a strong kick to his stomach. Bile threatened to rush up his throat and humiliate him further.

“Wait. You. You’re not a freak,” continued the neighbor, “ _You_. You’re a _monster_.”

Damn right he was. Cedric watched the other man’s figure open the door and fade in sight, to be replaced by five girls looking disapprovingly above him.

“So, speak up, Cedric,” the Keeper of the Heart demanded, as her hands and the others’ glowed, “Where. Is. Orube?!”

Damn. Love made humans so violent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dun dun~
> 
> I always wondered why the writers didn't let Orube's friends meet him. Then again, the writers focus more on W.I.T.C.H. and I'm probably the only fan who's obsessed with Orube enough to care about her journalist friends and life.
> 
> Not the way Raymond is obsessed though. He creeps me out. He's like Saionji from Utena. So please, if you want to ship Orube with Raymond, I'm not the person to talk to. But if you want to talk about their friendship, that's okay with me.


	3. Chapter 3

Cedric felt sore and weak all over.

It had been three days since he got beat up, and he still hadn’t fully recovered. It was one thing to face human wrath and another to face the guardians’. He dealt with physical blows and raw energy – if he only had his power back, then it would hurt much less. But now, he was human. He knew he had come close to dying that day. Only morality saved the guardians from committing a grave crime.

He wondered why he chose to tell the truth and face the consequences of which, no matter how ugly. No, it was more like, why did he think he should tell the truth?

Damn it. Why did he care so much for Orube?

He had breakfast earlier and was making his way to the local office. He needed to secure some more documents, before he could officially open Ye Olde Bookshop as a literary café – he was finally granted the permit he’d requested for. He was glad it had come – he’d need time away from all those people. For now, it seemed better for him to plan renovations for the bookshop instead of planning on how to... do anything that earthlings don’t even have a clue of. No Kandrakar, no Meridian, no Orube matter. For now.

Maybe it would’ve been better if he continued improvising his way home. Maybe. That was the word. But he chose not to, because it had been frustrating, and his luck had been chased away by two creatures from Basiliade.

Damn it.

Well, to be honest, Cedric didn’t like the idea of having to interact with a lot more people. It was tiring having to fake being cheerful and friendly when he hated this planet. The café would bring in more customers and would require more effort to maintain, but he fancied the idea of drinking tea and eating a few treats while reading a good book. As he fed his body, he fed his mind. He’d practiced a similar habit in his quieter times in Meridian, when he was still Lord Cedric, right hand man of Prince Phobos.

Oh, what a way to remember his former master, who had betrayed him. That betrayal had been a factor in their defeat, wasn’t it? No need to brood about the past, though. Phobos was dead, and Cedric was powerless and vulnerable. But if Cedric were to die now, a huge part of him wanted to die trying to regain power. Weakness made him feel pathetic about himself.

And the other part? He remembered the other night (or dusk, he couldn’t recall correctly). He remembered thinking he’d want to die for her.

Damn it. He needed to focus on his forged documents.

Cedric had to charm the office worker enough to draw attention away from the fields he hadn’t answered properly. Plus, that’ll come in handy later, should he get into some legal trouble.

...he was thinking more and more like a human now. How revolting! _"That’s what I thought too, the first and last time I tried it."_

Damn it. Cedric blamed his sore body for his useless, irritable thoughts.

"Mr. Cedric... Hoffman?"

"Yes, that’s me."

He had something to do, and this was it. It was a plain-looking... Jayne, said her name tag, with an untidy desk and a rather tired expression being masked by a business smile. Oh, similar to him, just less interesting and less memorable. Ha, ha.

...

...less memorable, right. He wouldn’t want to go back in this office. Miss Plain Jayne and friends, despite the workload and the crowd who came in, still had the wits to dodge some of his tactics. He had grabbed lunch and stayed until a little to closing hours to get his papers processed. A quick background check, Cedric guessed, to double-check the information.

That’s what he hated about the ‘modern’ society – everyone had tags on them as if they were all disposable mutts to the nasty ruling class who couldn’t decide whether to put a leash on them or to feed them to the wilderness. One had to tell his ruler that he would like to be alive, get education, get a dwelling, and make a life... everything! One had to get permission for everything! The government knew too much, and its citizens simply followed excessive rules because they’d be punished if they didn’t. Cedric didn’t understand this government. Didn’t people have the right to privacy? How could Orube stand this damned societ—

Oh, remembering her, again? Oh, wasn’t she a dog to Kandrakar, too? Kandrakar, with the power to look at other worlds and planets, with elders from all these different worlds and planets to offer their input, with five girls from the weakest world and planet to represent their power. They could’ve saved Meridian if they wanted to, to put an end to the discrimination that Phobos faced for being born a prince, to put an end to the poverty that forced young children such as Cedric to challenge the law and become criminals, to seal portals between worlds and planets and let these worlds and planets sustain themselves by their own. Instead, the elders hole themselves up there, pretend to care, but turn a blind eye on those who need help. And to boot, to give power to five naive girls to wield, and for these five naive girls to do their dirty work...

Ugh. Kandrakar! Blast Kandrakar! He’d never want to work for them! Kandrakar was an abomination, a useless accessory, a... a plot hole, in terms of stories!

They even placed Orube here, in this hell where everyone is weak, from which all their ‘guardians’ come from! A formidable warrior such as she shouldn’t be wasting her time here, babysitting some ex-prisoner or getting along with lovesick freaks. Come to think of it, when did she join the team? Probably before Phobos tried to usurp Kandrakar, because the guardians got along with her so well. If that is so, why didn’t they meet before then? It could’ve been a good fight, and their skills should give each other a hard time. She could’ve sensed him spying on the girls; he could’ve stopped her from giving her assistance to the girls. But, perhaps she had matters to attend to?

Right. Now he remembered. She was Rebecca Rudolph, and she lived in Villa Rudolph, where the wet-nurse Galgheitta retreated to and where a portal to Meridian opened up. The guardians made that place a hide-out or a meeting place when he was still spying on them.

How nice. Cedric might’ve made friends with Orube better if they met beforehand, but... what was the guarantee of that? They lived in ‘now’, and in ‘now’, Orube hated him and he had said words he never should’ve said. Now, she decided to disappear. He had no clue of how to find her, not without his powers, and the lack of communication from the previous months didn’t help much either. He might’ve memorized her routines, but he never asked her where she went (never saw the need to ask), and the only places she’d been mentioning about was her house, Heatherfield University, and the office of Heatherfield News.

But, why would he chase after her? She was the one who started it. She was the one who decided to disappear for more than a day, for more than a week. How was he supposed to know she’d do that? Still, where would a Basiliadian-turned-human go and hide?

As he thought of where she could’ve run to, Cedric’s view of the bookshop was met with the view of five girls waiting for him. Neither party bothered for a greeting, and Cedric didn’t bother with the details. They probably complained about things he couldn’t understand, but he didn’t care. Either way, they only want the basement door open. If his hunch was correct, Will and her friends had found the answer in defeating Ludmoore, because they were so impatient.

“Cedric! Talk to me!”

The Keeper of the Heart grabbed him his coat. By simply stealing a glance of how her friends were reacting, Cedric guessed that, what made them even more impatient was Orube. He beat them to it. “I don’t know where she is.”

Plain and simple and straight to the point. He’d hope they’d go away after that, but they didn’t. The Air Guardian made a face, and their leader quickly assumed, “You’re not telling us something!”

But he was so tired. Cedric was so, so tired of brooding over the facts.

“Other than what?!” he retorted, slamming the door open, “That two weeks ago, we had – we tried to hold a conversation? And that it didn’t go in a good way? That she just decided on her own to go missing? That her friends came to beat me up? That I think there’s something fishy about it?! I’m not deaf, Will! I’m not blind and I’m not dumb! She’s not my lover, she’s not my friend, and she’s not my responsibility! She’s supposed to keep an eye on me and not the other way aroun—”

And for the second time, a hand hit his face. No, not a hand. An open palm. His cheek burned with pain.

“How could you talk about her that way?!” Oh. The Fire Guardian. She was always so… confrontational. “How could you?! She gave up part of her being so you can continue living a normal life!”

Cedric kept his head turned. He wasn’t going to back down on his claims, and he wasn’t going anywhere near human weakness. How he hated to admit things that were so painfully obvious already! ( _He was on the verge of tears and he could feel how desperation strained his voice and his judgment earlier._ ) And most of all, he wasn’t going to utter any more. He’s had enough.

Cedric took his keys and tossed them at the guardians. “You have a mission to fulfill, and I need rest. Now, don’t bother me.”

“Why you—!”

“Enough!”

The Earth Guardian stepped forward. “We aren’t going anywhere here, so might as well do something else.”

Cedric heard protests behind him, but as was said, enough. He’d had enough.

…

He said he’d had enough! What did the world want from him again?!

Cedric woke up to the impact of an explosion. From how it felt, it must’ve been a magical one. Great. Good job, guardians, we owe the safety of the universe to you, blah blah blah.

He glanced at the digital clock placed across his bed. The time-telling device told him it was already past dinner time. Cedric groaned. Well, he should have something to eat in his cupboards. He didn’t see the need to learn how to cook, despite his fondness for meat. He can no longer eat it raw as he once did whenever he felt lazy, either way, and the last time he attempted to cook with human tools, he almost burned his house (and the bookshop, along with it). The piece of raw meat he attempted eating a few months ago didn’t register nicely on his tongue, and he ended up throwing it away. Plant products didn’t really taste all that nice either, but it was better than raw meat. “Instant” food, while available, was totally unhealthy and appalling.

Humans liked to make different kinds of food available for each other, but Cedric hadn’t found anyone who made anything that wasn’t overly seasoned or blandly prepared. Perhaps this land didn’t have anything much in store for him. That would mean that he’d have to have the menu items of the literary café tailored to his tastes. And that would mean asking some lowly human being to do it, in the nicest, most humiliating way possible.

Ugh. Why did he plan something like this?

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud rapping on his door. The guardians probably wanted to tell him something about their battle. But it sounded urgent; they probably ran into a problem or two.

Cedric grabbed his shirt and hastily wore it, having taken it off before he slept. He mustered up the grumpiest face he could wear, and planned to start another petty argument with the girls about reckless behaviors and such. That wouldn’t really better his mood, but if he could make the girls upset by his own actions, then somehow it’d be like getting back at them. (Enough is enough, right, Cedric? Where did those thoughts of his go?)

Only if making them upset wouldn’t end with both parties utterly unimpressed and disgraced by each other’s banters, and only if none of them, none of any of them, ever brought up that one name both sides never really want to mention of front of each other.

Now he was just plain annoyed and tired, he decided when he opened the door.

"Okay. We don’t know how to explain it—"

"You don’t have to. I was about to close it for renovations anyway."

"Renovations?"

"For the café."

"A café. You’re a sourpuss and you hate us but you want flair and you want to invite other people more into your bookshop. By turning it into a café."

"A literary café."

The Water Guardian wasn’t pleased with his answers. What did he do again?!

“And what’s Wee doing here?!”

The Air Guardian was holding said creature in her arms. She was ready to attack him at any moment, from the way her face crunched, looking at him. The damned critter was attempting to hide by turning invisible, but it couldn’t, for its tail was still in view, round and shivering. How on earth did it get there, anyway?!

“Oh, I don’t know, girls. I’m supposed to be hating that thing now.” Cedric was trying hard. Trying very hard.

“Wee’s not a thing!”

“I know; I heard, I saw, but that’s irrelevant.”

The Keeper slammed her hand against a shelf. “It _is_ relevant! Because you keep offending and upsetting everyone here! Why can’t you play nice? Why can’t you just shut up at least… at least stop your words from hurting anyone?!”

Damn. That hurt.

“Why can’t you see that we have feelings?” she continued, hushing her voice down, “And as a human you’re… you’re supposed to consider our feelings?”

Oh. Oh? Oh, now…? The last bit lit a spark in Cedric’s mind. And his rational was still too wounded to prevent him from speaking.

“Feelings? _Feelings?_ Really, Will?! You talk about feelings now? Remind me of a time you considered your friends’ feelings."

"Of course, we’re with her!" the other guardians quipped, but Cedric continued.

"I don’t mean them. I meant your _Earthly_ friends. Do they know? How about your family? Do they know? _Do they_?"

He’d dug a hole now, and he leapt in with little thought. The Keeper angrily summoned electrical energy and blasted him into the wall with a loud BAM! Oh, that hurt, alright.

Cedric hacked and groaned as he tried to get up, but the redhead grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

“How dare you say that, you snake?” she threatened, her hand still glowing pink, “How dare you?!”

“I’m… ugh…” Cedric coughed between his words, but he struggled. “I’m not the one… who’ll be called a murderer if you kill me, Will. And I’m certainly sure you’re going to hurt a lot of your precious family and friends if you _do_ kill me.”

“Will, please…”

Her friends began to feel concerned (or something like that, Cedric supposed) for Will, and his life was spared, yet again.

“We’re wasting time here. And Pa’s gonna be mad if I don’t get home in time!” complained the Earth Guardian. So, the Keeper of the Heart dropped Cedric. They hesitated for a while, but the girls slowly turned around and started to walk, drag their feet away.

Will stopped for a moment, and turned her head. “If ever you need some help, I’m doing my homework, so don’t bother me.”

Cedric merely watched the angry guardians leave. Finally. Alone again.

Did… did it get to them?

He didn’t know. They simply walked out with a multitude of expressions (however they were called; he didn’t want to know anyway). He didn’t know what they were thinking, and he didn’t care. For now, he simply reveled in the glory of shooing them off and finally having the bookshop to himself again… if that could be called a glory.

It was then that his attention was called by the creature called Wee. Instead of listening to the blurbs of words, Cedric took a good look at the wailing critter. What was this little thing, anyway? It could be exclusive to Basiliade, because it was so good at spying and sneaking around. Cedric prepared to kick it out of his shop, when the syllables that the creature was whining about seemed familiar.

“Rube! Rube!” cried Wee, “Rube! Here! Oh! Oh… _oh_ … _Orube_!”

He couldn’t have been imagining it. What did Wee want with Orube? No, no. Not today. Not tonight. He was going to rest for tonight. Cedric didn’t want to deal with the little creature. So noisy. Too noisy.

“Help!” continued the little creature, “Rube! Need help!”

Help? What…? Why…?

The more he listened to Wee, the more he was simply stalling. He was too busy (too prideful, too stubborn) to understand what it wanted. That’s it. He was kicking Wee out.

“Rube! Help! Help Orube!”

Oh come on, she left by herself. She’s a strong woman; she’ll be fine—

Then Cedric remembered one crucial thing, one reason why Orube could need help. _She is human now_.

The next thing Cedric remembered doing was that he had grabbed on some clothes to fight against the cold, and that he rushed outside his house, calling for a name with so much force and feelings, that he thought he’d lose his voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Plot twist! (Also, Wee’s baby talk is a little difficult to emulate, so have him shortening his owners’ (read: parents) names instead.)
> 
> Comics!Cedric said something about wanting to turn the bookshop into a literary cafe. Cartoons!Cedric takes it up by holding a poetry session. That was one of the inspirations for this chapter. The other one, obviously, is the many plot holes that is called "The Council of Kandrakar".
> 
> Also, Wee didn't have a clear role in the saga he debutted in. That's so unfair. If only canon gave him a role, he’d be so much interesting and it’d be fun. Like this.


	4. Chapter 4

He couldn’t understand or remember how he got there, or how Wee had pulled him along, but Cedric discerned that the figure lying in the snow was definitely Orube. The coat was definitely hers, one that resemble what she wore the last time they met. She felt warm to his touch, but a little too warm. Hot. That was the term. She felt so hot. Her face was flushed, and she seemed like she had trouble breathing. Then he noticed something else. She was shivering. She was shivering so much, and she didn’t stop doing so, and she was unconscious, that was for sure.

Cedric only needed to remember his books. This was definitely a human illness.

He never felt such willpower and strength before in his humanity. Cedric scooped Orube’s body up, and carried her to his sheets. It all happened in an instant; he didn’t even have time to notice where they came from. He simply knew he had to hurry.

He understood from his books that for a full recovery, one needed to change clothes. He was not doing that for the sake of decency and respect, but at the very least, he took off her coat and her boots. If this was just a fever, then she’d be fine soon. For now, Cedric chose to place a damp cloth over her forehead, in hopes that her temperature would drop. He covered her body with a thinner blanket, though he knew that blankets would defeat the purpose of the damp cloth. This was how he chose to deal with the shivers.

But, the fever didn’t come down at all; nor did the shivers go away. Cedric knew that… he… From how Wee acted, flailing about and crying about how Orube needed help, he knew that he…

Fuck. No.

No, no, no, no, no! NO!

He’d never… he’d never… no. No. NO!

He paced around in his house, pulling out his books on diseases and scanning every page. He could do this. He could handle this. He could handle this. He could handle—

Fuck. If he made a mistake, she’ll die for sure.

Shit.

He bit his lip. He had to do it.

And for once, Cedric admitted it. He admitted his weakness.

He only knew one number to call. Frantic, he pulled his telephone and plugged it to the connection that he had near his bed for reasons he never understood. Well, right now, he understood. He couldn’t leave Orube alone. Not again.

Cedric pulled her into his arms and wrapped the cloth around the two of them. Body warmth. It could help, at least, to pull Orube down from her high temperature, and a bigger mass, said his books, would be obeyed, mostly. Of course, that wasn’t the only reason why he did that – he was desperate. Right now, this was all he could do, keeping her close to him, to make sure she was still alive.

He still tried to look brave as he dialed the numbers in a frenzy. But, his body was betraying him – his humanity was betraying him, and for once, he felt a hot sensation roll down his cheeks and block his breathing. He had to tell somebody. Somebody. _Please_.

“Will. Will. Will? Please. Don’t. Don’t hang up. Please. I – I need your help. Please. Orube. Orube’s here. She’s sick. She’s sick and I don’t know what to do. Will. Please. Please h-help… h-help h-herrr…”

He choked on his emotions. He tried to hold them back, but ugh… he just did it. He sobbed against the receiver, as he heard Will’s emotions turn around for _her_ friend. Weak. He was so weak. Admitting it didn’t help him feel better, but it would help Orube get better. They were enemies. They were comrades. Now, they were… Cedric didn’t have a need for a label, but it hurt him. It hurt him to be so far from her, but if it was for her, he’d do it. He’d do anything. For her.

…

Even the other guardians were skeptical when they first entered the bookshop. They looked very fatigued, but nevertheless, they worked onto their tasks. Will had forgotten to give the keys back, so it was useful when Irma and Hay Lin took care of locking the place up for the night. Cornelia wasn’t so sure if she could heal Orube, but she tried, anyways. For now, Orube stopped shivering.

Cedric was ushered out of the room, so Will could change Orube into fresh clothes. Taranee faced this man whom their friend so valiantly defended. When they left a few hours ago, he looked so proud and triumphant and simply… out of his mind. And now, he looked so fallen, so somber, and so defeated, but still out of his mind, in some way. He wouldn’t just call for their help, and he wouldn’t want anyone to see him weak. Now, he was so silent and he paid no attention to their scolding, as he prepared tea. He could do that at least to welcome the guardians.

“I know what you’re thinking of,” Taranee said, “And I know you don’t like us.”

From how she spoke, Cedric knew that Taranee was trying to cheer him up a little. Of course, they were enemies. But, he was so desperate. He had been cornered, and now he didn’t know what to do with his humanity. Taranee had been mature enough to realize it. Good for her, then. Good.

“You have a valid point, Cedric,” she continued, “But that wasn’t a valid reason to tell us off, you know.”

And for the first time, Cedric found himself actually smiling in the presence of a guardian.

“Don’t be so friendly with him, Taranee.”

Irma and Hay Lin had finished locking up and taking care of the semi-destroyed basement. For now, many of Cedric’s books were alive, and they only needed to lock the basement door to keep anybody from getting hurt in the disaster made of bricks and broken bookshelves and metal pipes underneath there. Ludmoore had truly given them a fight.

“I’ve seen it in my dreams,” Irma explained, “I’ve seen Orube’s misery. I kept it to myself since she never told us how much she’s been hurt.”

Cedric was about to say something, but Hay Lin spoke before him.

“Actually, Irma… I know she’d been lying. It’s just that, you know, she never lied about not regretting her decision. And you know, I… I think we’re taking this mission too lightly and too carelessly. Cedric probably only said those nasty things before to shoo us away, but you know, he’s right about one thing! If… if he were to… well, I guess, if we were to have a better relationship with him, then we need to consider his feelings too… right?”

Hours ago, Cedric would have disagreed with this. Oddly, what Hay Lin said made him feel a little better.

“He doesn’t understand how we feel, Hay-Hay!”

“Exactly, Irma!” Taranee was beaming. “So we show him how to feel! How _we_ feel!”

“Cosmic!” Hay Lin agreed.

“Oh, come on!” Irma started complaining again, so Taranee approached her and they went on with their conversation in hushed voices, as they walked towards the couch.

Cedric had just finished boiling the tea, so he was a little disappointed when he looked up, to see they went away for a while. Not that he could blame them. He poured some on a cup, and Hay Lin didn’t bother to hear his invitation.

“Thank you!” Hay Lin then corrected herself. “I mean, sorry! I couldn’t help it! I was… I was too cold and thirsty! This’ll help! Thank you!”

Cedric felt that he had to reply. Awkward as it could’ve been, he still managed to utter out a strained, “You’re… you’re welcome.”

“Oh, and… you know… I…”

The Air Guardian hesitated, so Cedric just nodded to tell her to continue.

“Okay um, this is a little awkward, but, the thing is, I… I…! I decided that I can trust you because your feelings for Orube are genuine. Really. Really genuine.”

He sighed. What was she talking about? “Really, now. I didn’t mean it when I said that I—”

“I wasn’t talking about that, you know. Not really. Not at all.”

Alright, then what was it about?

“That,” Taranee answered, “Lies in your heart.” She winked.

That…

“You could read my mind?” Cedric asked. Well. All those other times, especially when he was in a contract with Ludmoore…

“Oh, not until a little later,” the Fire Guardian answered, “And I’ve controlled it with the other people. So don’t worry, I’ll try not to see yours.”

Just as Cedric was to ask her more, the door to his room opened, and Will and Cornelia stepped out, carrying Orube’s used clothes with them. They looked like they didn’t have time to play around.

“For now, she’ll be staying here, so invite us up here in your house, hear me, Cedric?” Will turned to him, just as he was to hand tea for her. He simply gestured to the tea, but she refused. “I need to go home now.”

At their leader’s statement, the girls were reminded of the time (again, for that day). They gathered around him, as a reminder of his situation. It helped Cedric feel better, though, that not only Hay Lin earlier, but also Taranee now took his offer of tea. It was better than nothing, he told himself, as the girls set down his cups back on the counter.

“But be warned, Cedric. We’re not taking our eyes off you.” Will was serious, and for once, she looked mature and ready to face her responsibilities as a guardian. No more playing around. A mission was a mission, and no matter how good things appeared, one ought not to drop her guard, without ensuring that the mission is completed. “Not anymore. We discussed things with the Oracle.”

Cedric only nodded. He showed them out the door.

“Oh, and if you can’t consider our feelings,” Cornelia turned back to look at him, almost reminding him of how Elyon once did, when the young queen looked at him with betrayal in her eyes, “Cedric, consider Orube’s.“

And Cedric was once again alone in his lonely castle.

Not completely, though. He checked up on Orube for one last time. She didn’t look all that sick anymore, and she looked comfortable to toss around in his bed. Cedric smiled. He drank some tea, took a spare blanket, and slept in the couch, hoping that the next day would be better.

…

Hopes can be crushed, though. Cedric woke up, feeling soreness in his throat and his eyes. Right. He’d shown the guardians how vulnerable he was. Ugh. It was disgusting. Maybe he could fix himself some tea.

However, the sensation of whatever he was lying on felt different. Oh. The couch. He’d slept there, because Orube took the bed. Funny. Weeks ago since the Kandrakar incident, during the nights when she insisted she’d stay, Orube had been making a stand that he should sleep on the bed because that’s his, and that she’d be comfortable on the couch already. Now, their situations were reversed. Ha, ha.

Right. Speaking of which, how was she fairing? Cedric rose, and crept towards the bedroom. He hesitated. Would she be awake? She’d probably slap him or something. But he needed to know. He had to know. He was the one who put her here, in her misery. He must do it. Opening the door, he was greeted by a weak voice calling his name.

“…C-Cedric?”

“…Orube.”

He greeted back. He tried not to show emotion in his voice. It fell flat, and ended up sounding too forced. She was awake, sitting up and undeniably feeling better. He walked towards her, but the more he approached her, the more she sank back onto the bed. He hoped that she wasn’t feeling worse, because her flushed face was getting a deeper shade of red.

“A… are you feeling b-better now?”

Asking this kind of question was sort of a first for him. Cedric felt awkward. It was sort of a first for him for Orube to be acting shy. She meekly gestured to his torso.

“S-shirt. Your shirt, Cedric. Where did it go?”

“Shirt…”

Oh, right. He shouldn’t have done that. Nakedness made people feel uncomfortable, especially when it’s so cold and especially when it’s with the opposite sex. Now Cedric felt a lot more awkward. Why did he have to feel comfortable going to bed without a shirt on, and why did he just have to walk straight into the room to check if she’s better instead of tossing his sweater back on? This wasn’t a problem before; his first action in the morning was to get dressed and see if Orube was back from… well, wherever she went to, first thing in the morning.

“…my bad, um, I’ll go get—”

“More importantly… Cedric? Is… is that really you?”

Orube was confused like he was, wasn’t she? He would’ve liked to explain to her. He would’ve liked to get answers too. She’d disappeared for almost two weeks. So much had happened yesterday. He didn’t know where to start. But for now… for now…

“If we’re talking about importance, then I think you should answer me first.” That sounded a little arrogant, but he needed to know. “Are you feeling… better now?”

He sat down and reached for her forehead. Orube flinched at the touch, but she soon warmed up to his hand. Oh. She felt warm. Warm like how she talked of Basiliade. Cedric felt a smile grace his lips.

“I… I think so.”

“That’s good. I’ll prepare breakfast, so in the meantime, you can… I don’t know. Do your things or… tell your human mut—I mean, your friends from the university. Call me if you need me.”

He wasn’t used to this, this foreign setting and this foreign feeling, but it wasn’t unwelcome. For once, he felt like he could accept new emotions. This one wasn’t just harmful, and it made him feel good.

As he walked out, Orube called out to him, “Cedric!”

He turned his head. Cedric expected to be yelled at, to be reminded of his sins and his mistakes, to be hated, once again. He wouldn’t blame her if he did. She was the one person he offended the most in here. He thought of apologizing to Elyon too, (and perhaps the whole of Meridian), after everything with Heatherfield ended, or whatever, if ever he survived Heatherfield, maybe? He braced himself for the worst, but what he got was so gentle, he had to process in his mind whether he’d been dreaming at that moment or not.

With a proud smile gracing her rosy lips, and golden eyes brimming with life and hope, Orube said, “Thank you.”

Cedric pushed his plans for the café aside, as he tried not to cry while preparing his breakfast. At times – he now acknowledged – hope could shine bravely through the most impossible of moments.

He silently thanked the Queens of Meridian for granting him life until now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I only extended that opening scene because I wanted to torture I MEAN make Cedric feel more helpless.
> 
> And, Cedric wearing only jeans (and underwear) to bed is a little headcanon of mine. He gets irritated wearing his sweaters to bed, and his only other acceptable article of clothing is the tunic he wore when he was imprisoned. Of course, in this fic, he still keeps it, but he doesn't want to wear it anymore.


	5. Chapter 5

Her friends were taking care of her well. He hoped he was doing the same.

The girls explained that Orube’s body was probably still adjusting. Cornelia wondered why it came so late, and Irma joked that it was probably like monthly periods... Cedric thought it was his cue to leave the room. How was he supposed to react about this? It felt... awkward. He’d rather not react too negatively, or say something offensive again, so he just left. Like how he went out of the room wordlessly, so did the guardians when they walked down to the bookshop. Oh, but Taranee and Hay Lin left him with some instructions on the medicine and how to help Orube, though. That was... okay, he could say it. That was nice.

Orube’s university friends and her neighbor had dropped by, too, and even with their anger, they found worry and relief. They couldn’t wait to see her, and their reunion with her was even noisier than hers with the guardians. The humans still weren’t letting him off, though. Joshua and Ray, the neighbor, had threatened Cedric.

“She can take the rest of the year off,” Joshua informed, “We already told Korter. But, make sure that you will return her this time.”

“And,” added Ray, “Don’t forget to have her listen to my CD. Don’t forget that she lives next to my house, either.”

(Cedric stared at the round thing at the case, and then the case. ‘Raymond Fieldestein,’ it read. So, Ray was short for Raymond...)

Oh, such negative feelings! All of her friends were so aggressive defending her!

…speaking of which. These negative feelings. Cedric had been dealing with so many negative emotions. Why did he say such hurtful words to her? Why couldn’t he stop himself from speaking? Why did Heatherfield and Kandrakar and a lot of things feel so disgusting to him, and his memories of Meridian and idea of Basiliade appeal to him so much?

But, wait. Consider Orube. Cedric mused to himself. Consider her. She wouldn’t be pleased to be confronted with so many questions.

Right. It wasn’t just right or polite, because, before everything else, he had to apologize.

But before that, he had to face the sudden influx of customers.

“I have to get started today! Or my schedule will be ruined!”

“It’s a rare book, Mr. Smithson said so, and I’m afraid somebody might get it before me.”

“Please! Please! Mrs. Lowitt will kill me if I don’t show her!”

What had happened? It seems, apparently, that teachers loved to assign book reviews for their students over the winter holidays. As he was making sure that the locks on his door was secured, said students had come rushing and forced him to open the bookshop. Great. Just great. Today, the bookshop was filled to the brim with so many teens who all want a book or two. Great. No really, it’s great for the business.

Not very great for Cedric’s wellbeing, though.

He’d love to check on Orube now – oh, it’s time for her medicine, but he had to make sure she took it, or else—! Oh, but he was too busy assisting his patrons find their titles. Cedric attempted to excuse himself quickly, but he was already pulled off to the shelves by frantic students.

Oh, Heatherfield.

He has a long day. A long week. It could drag on for longer. He tried to smile, still. He tried to smile and to control himself from wanting to strangle all these strangers demanding his attention. Now.

(He wanted a little break from this. Just a little break. But he’d have to wait until closing time, he thought, but he doesn’t want Orube to wait for so long. He hoped she could find something to busy herself with. He hoped she’d understand his absence.)

And before he knew it, the crowd dispersed, and he sent the last student out the door. He quickly locked up, and set his mind to tidying the place up. Crowds like that tended to send his books flying around. Ha, ha. If that were a little more literal, it could’ve been like Meridian. Wherever he went, it always had a little fragment of magic, all of which were borrowed from the Escanors.

And speaking of which… why wasn’t he trying to find a way back home, again?

_Five hundred twenty, five hundred seventy, six hundred..._

Why, of all things, was he still here, and counting his earnings, and planning for a literary café? Oh, but he hadn’t had this much profit before in Heatherfield. Well, that is, using his more honest means of earning. Everything smelled of the green sheets of paper.

He looked at the accounting he’d been doing, and upon his realization, he dropped his pen.

Yes. What was he really doing, and why was he avoiding Orube even on his earlier insistence that he check on her? She was a responsible person; she’d never miss taking the medicine on time. Cedric knew that, even as a vulnerable human, she can still stand on her own feet.

But he hadn’t dared come near her, until he had to serve her meals. Huh, another funny memory came to him. She’d been eating so much junk food before she came here. How did she, a warrior, plan to nourish herself, if she kept eating such garbage?

Just then, he realized something else.

Did she eat lunch at all? He skipped his own, didn’t he?

Fuck.

He quickly left the table and rushed into his room.

“Orube!” he called, slamming the door open, “Did you—”

“RICK!”

Cedric blinked. Orube was surrounded by food. Take-out food; the containers were labelled with a same name he’d often hear from the guardians: ‘The Silver Dragon’. On the bedside table, Wee was having his own feast, though he tensed up and turned half-invisible at Cedric’s arrival.

"Cedric..." Orube whispered, "Um, you need something?"

He blinked again. He was definitely seeing this little feast, all right. The guardians probably did something, again. They might have snuck in while he was being pulled left and right around the bookshop.

...he wasn’t really taking care of her, was he?

“No, I...” he started, then he thought against it. Everything he’d been saying had made his life take a turn for the worst, so far.

So he excused himself, turned around, and gently swung the door behind him.

“Wait.”

Orube’s voice called him to stop. Cedric turned around. Maybe he could use this chance.

“I think I—”

“I should tell you—”

They had spoken at the same time. What was intended to be a small pause turned into awkward silence. Cedric was struggling to find words; maybe Orube was, too? She only held her gaze at him, seemingly hurt and confused. They stayed still for a while, neither saying anything, merely staring and trying to understand the messages off each other’s faces.

Maybe she was waiting for him to say, um, _something_ important first? Something like, an apology perhaps? He… he had practiced for this in his mind. He shouldn’t fail now. No, there’s no reason for him to. He opened his mouth, but it ran dry again and his heartbeat raced. He…

He was scared, _again_.

In his mind, Cedric dug up a saying: actions speak louder than words. He gulped. What should he be doing, then? How should he show what he means to convey? No, it shouldn’t be too intimate. As he spoke, they weren’t lovers, they weren’t friends. Wait, what did he mean by that lovers bit? Why did that come to mind?

As confusion ran in his mind, he hadn’t noticed he had gritted his teeth and started whining in some way. Orube’s face changed into that of pure confusion. At that point, he caught himself. Ugh. He wasn’t going anywhere like this, so might as well do something he’d saw so many times on the box called the television, a certain way to… show a lot of emotions without ever saying anything.

He walked up to her and bent over, his brows furrowed. She, still watching and never breaking eye contact, leaned back a little. Her face was turning into some shade of red… was her fever burning up again? Cedric considered placing a palm against her forehead, but…

Damn it.

Against all that he stood for, he hugged her, resting her head against his shoulder. His embrace had been a little tight (how does one ensure that the other party won’t be crushed?), and he had just been slipping his arms off a little, when a pair of arms returned the gesture.

Oh.

So.

It wasn’t unwelcome.

Um. That’s…

That’s good. Yeah. Really.

She had started to stroke his hair gently. His heartbeat had slowed down, but it still rang in his ears, loudly. He nuzzled up against the crook of her neck, breathing in her scent and her warmth. He…

He could fall asleep just like this. If an embrace with her was like this, he didn’t mind doing it again and again.

Then maybe, maybe he could tell her now. His heart ran faster, and his voice grew weak, but he… he had to say it.

He bit his lip, and he considered. Won’t it ruin the mood?

But he had to say it.

“Orube, I… I’m sorry.”

…

For a while, they only stayed like that. Cedric had been waiting for a response, but it never came, like she understood what he had been trying to say. But, she’d tell him if he wasn’t doing it right, right? She’d always tell him that he’s wrong. Heh. And he’d never really listen anyway… but he’d consider.

It made him feel sleepy, this gesture. Then again, he was tired, tired from the day’s work, and tired from the events that had happened. If he’d be allowed so, he’d like to fall asleep like this.

The silence in the air was now comfortable. It didn’t have the tension that it once did, nor was it undesirable either. It had only been punctuated by the sound of Wee eating.

Cedric was then reminded of one thing. “…where did your allergies go?” Shouldn’t she be sneezing now?

Orube chuckled. “I think... it was my hyper-senses working.” Her keen sense of smell must have been picking up some unsavory signals from Wee’s fur. Now that she had given up her powers… no need to dwell on that. That was good, then.

She spoke again. “Do you want dinner?”

But that would mean he’d have to let go now, didn’t it? He’d mourn the loss of warmth, but he’d admit to being hungry. Maybe they could have a better, more decent conversation as well. That… that’d be nice too.

So he let go. Orube didn’t have the same flushed face from earlier, but her expression was friendly again. She handed a pair of chopsticks to him, and as she was about to hand one of the meals to him, she took it away.

“Oops,” she mumbled, “I mean. Uh. You can choose.”

Cedric stared at what she had chosen to offer for him. It had meat, some vegetables, and rice, doused in some orangey-brown sauce. It seemed delicious, and if she was giving it to him, maybe it was worth to try it. (Yes, that includes the revolting coffee that she gave him months ago.)

“No, it’s fine.” He shook his head, reaching for the meal and sitting right next to her. “That’s good.”

Orube took something that seemed half-eaten, still filled with meat and rice. “Um, do you know how to use chopsticks?”

Cedric nodded. He’d spent enough time around Heatherfield to learn that, and plus, it was good exercise for the fingers. Ha, ha.

They started eating, and silence once again hung in the air. Of course, the food was nice, but somehow, they had to start talking again. Something that’s not about the technicalities of food, preferably.

But while he was thinking of something to talk about, Cedric’s attention went back on Wee. Wee had been grooming himself with some tissue, and was looking very much right back at Cedric. Oh. Uh. He hadn’t apologized to the little critter either, and knowing Orube, he’d be forced to do so, either way.

Might as well jump ahead and do it. But, Cedric was not going to get dramatic like he did with Orube a while earlier. He gently picked up Wee, who struggled and squealed.

“Rick bad! Rick bad!” Wee screamed.

Orube was a little alarmed, but Cedric just gestured that she pay no mind. She continued watching. Urgh…

“Alright, alright, I am bad!” Cedric groaned, and turned to Wee, “But, listen here, I’m not going to kick you out anymore. You can stay while she’s here, got it?”

Wee’s cries quieted, though he held a pout that demanded explanations. Basiliadeans were so troublesome. (Ah, didn’t Phobos say that the Oracle himself was Basiliadean too?)

“Alright, I’m going to tell you something, but you have to promise me you won’t the girls. It’s… mm, it’s a secret mission, only entrusted to beings as great as you.”

Why was Cedric baby-talking a tiny creature? Wee seemed to be satisfied with it, though, because he turned very curious.

“You ready? Okay, here goes.” Cedric bit his lip again, and his voice hushed down. “I’m sorry. I was mean to you. Got it?”

Wee nodded, and was placed back on the bedside table. Cedric sighed, and heard laughter from beside him.

“What?” he asked, turning to Orube, “What did I do wrong again?”

“Nothing,” she managed to blurt out, “Nothing at all! That was… ha, ha… that was adorable.”

Cedric wanted to scream out that he wasn’t anything of the sort (he felt like he was burning up in his chest again) but he decided he’d stay quiet. But, a growl managed to escape his throat.

After their dinner, he left the room to throw away the disposable containers and plastics, wash his hands, and get some water for both of them. Cedric never felt any more hateful about having to leave a place, and any more pleased about having to go back there. Wait, no, those weren’t the right words; not hateful, but bothered; not pleased, but ecstatic. He didn’t want to leave, and when he left, he couldn’t wait to go back.

He was feeling new emotions again, all thanks to Orube, again.

He drank his glass of water, then he remembered that one must brush their teeth after eating dinner.

Curses.

He delivered her glass of water, and hastily excused himself to the bathroom. Then while gargling, he remembered something again. Did she require assistance to brush her own teeth?

Just as he questioned himself more, she appeared behind him. He watched her reflection carrying some articles of clothing, on the mirror from the corner of his eye.

“Um, are you done? I need to use it.”

Cedric wiped his lips and placed his toothbrush back on the mug that held hers too. “Yeah. Please excuse me.”

He walked past her and out, and the door was closed behind him. Hm. She looked well enough to not need assistance. That’s good.

Wait. He wanted answers. He _needed_ answers. He laid out his questions in his head: where did you go, what were you doing when you were gone, why didn’t you just beat me up instead?

As the numerous questions went on and on, even beyond the incident that happened about two weeks ago, Cedric waited in his room, sitting on the edge of the bed and lazily playing fetch with Wee. The critter was enjoying it, at least. Where had this guy been hiding all that time? Maybe the girls were passing him to and fro? Orube’s nose couldn’t stand him, so she couldn’t have been keeping him…

Then again, she was weird. She liked Wee, but Wee gave her allergies. She liked living here with the humans, but it made a lot of things difficult for her. The things she liked, merely caused inconveniences for her.

Was he also one of those she liked? No, far unlikely. Heh. She hated him, of course. Though how will he be able to explain why she begged the Oracle to give him another chance? To save her pride? To further humiliate him? Or maybe it’s a guardian thing?

As he mused, Orube returned, wearing a red sweater and her nightgown. (Of course, he tried to avert his gaze from that stupid pink fabric that did nothing to hide her long, slender legs. The keyword is ‘tried’. Wee snickered at him.) She was about to close the door, when she asked, “…do I keep it open?”

Cedric thought against it – if the room was closed, then it would help keep the room warm, but then, wouldn’t it make her feel uncomfortable, especially that he was with her?

In the end, he simply shrugged. “Feel free to. I don’t mind either way.”

Her next question brought him a bit of surprise (if surprise was the right word). “Would you be spending the night here?”

Cedric stared at her for a moment, then shook his head. “Not really.”

Then, she closed the door, and slipped under the covers. She didn’t lie down yet; she merely sat down, her knees folded to chest level. Cedric abandoned Wee to the critter’s small game and pulled his legs up to sit next to her.

“…do you need anything?” Orube asked.

He shrugged a little. “Answers. I mean, you were going to say something earlier, weren’t you?”

She thought for a while. “Oh. Right. I… I think that was rude of me, to just… run away without a word.”

“I… don’t think I’m the one who should be hearing that.”

“Well, I want you to hear first.”

Cedric nodded. Maybe he was winning her trust back again? “Alright. Please. Continue.”

“It’s just… I… I tend to get careless when I get angry, you see.”

He nodded again as he drew back some memories. “I know. You almost broke my mug a few weeks ago, before… before _the_ incident.”

She simply looked at him and smiled a bit. “I think I threw that out of frustration.”

“Hm-mmm.”

“Well, I just… I wanted to walk around and calm down. It was fine for the first two, three days, but my anger wasn’t going away, so I walked further than the usual routes that I knew, and… I kind of forgot that I’ve lost many of my abilities and… well… don’t laugh at me, okay?”

“…I promise.”

“You don’t look sincere.”

“What makes you think I’d laugh?”

“…fine. I got lost, alright?”

Cedric didn’t find that funny. In this kind of weather and in this kind of place, that was a big concern. “…oh. Uh, that’s… that’s terrible.”

“It is. I’ve been told you found me… did you?”

As much as he wanted to have done that, he shook his head. Wee climbed on the bed, and jumped up and down.

“Wee!” he squealed, “Wee did! Wee!”

“Wee did?” Orube stroked the creature’s fur. “That’s… cool. Awesome.”

“So,” Cedric said, “What were you doing during the rest of your absence?”

“Trying to get back home, silly.” Orube giggled a little. “Okay, so some of Mrs. Rudolph’s friends interrogated me.”

Now Cedric did laugh. Orube was slightly offended. “Hey! I thought you promised you wouldn’t laugh!”

“I’m not laughing at what happened to you,” he clarified, “I’m laughing at the word you used. ‘Interrogated?’ Really?”

“Oh, please tell me that human conversations never felt like an interrogation to you.”

“It happens, of course, but I usually just nod and smile.”

“Huh… but I can’t just do that. If my actions reach Meridian…”

“Don’t worry. Galgheitta has good humor. She’d pleasantly laugh and tell you how precious you are.”

“How do you know that?”

Cedric shrugged. “That’s what I see her do, that’s all. A lot of interesting things happen in the palace. Of course, I worked my way up there. If I’m correct, before me there were two or three more who served Phobos the same way I did. One of them is Ludmoore.”

Orube seemed interested in what more he had to say, but she looked quite tired. She yawned. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean that it’s not interesting; I’m just a little tired.”

“Then sleep.” Cedric was slipping off the bed, when he felt his sweater being pulled.

“I will. But please. Tell me more.”

He… could spend the night like this, too. He slipped under the blanket, too, and they lied down, facing each other. Wee chose to lie down on the covers.

“What do you want me to tell you about?” Cedric asked.

Orube thought for a while. “I don’t know; maybe you can tell me what you did during my absence.”

Cedric laughed. “Alright, I can tell you that.”

She smiled, and closed her eyes. Orube’s hands wandered about, and found themselves comfortable clutching some locks of his hair.

“Oh and Orube?”

“Hm?”

“Did you take your medicine yet?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright. And, uh, next time you plan on doing something that outrageous, just feel free to punch me.”

“…mm. Sure.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I revised this chapter a LOT. I even lost a blurb of about ~1000 words for this… though, of course, that wouldn’t make it to the final cut since I revised the setting. It was from this point that I gave up on averaging 2.5k words a chapter. It's hard to find a balance between these two little shits trying not to be awkward but wanting to get closer to each other...
> 
> SOMEBODY SAVE ME FROM THIS SLOW BURN.
> 
> And if anybody's lost, they've been sort of living together prior to this fic, so some of Orube's stuff are in Cedric's house; just that, they're not communicating as effectively as they are right now.


	6. Chapter 6

Mutual understanding. The term was mutual understanding.

A book fell and opened to a particular page, where he saw that particular term. He had decided that since the bookshop was closed and had been ransacked by frantic students, he’d be doing an inventory. It would also help him figure out the new layout for the café.

“So, where do I put these?”

Orube decided she was feeling better, and that she had to help out. Cedric wanted to make her stay in bed for a while longer, but she claimed that she was getting weaker like this. She’d insist a lot more, just like how she insisted back then... so he let her be.

Cedric closed the book, and took a look at what she was referring to. In her hands were several thick books with similar covers. Encyclopedias. There seemed to be less and less people preferring to borrow them, let alone read them. He considered keeping them away in a box full of other outdated books. But some of the older humans who passed by only kept coming because of these editions.

Well, he also had a pile for the books that hadn’t been decided on yet, and that was—

“On my desk, please.”

“Alright.”

As he turned to reading that trashy friendship or romance whatever-it-was novel, Orube asked again.

“Cedric? What’s this?!”

In her hand was an unfamiliar book. Cedric could discern that it had probably been stashed away with the false magic books he had acquired. He had a few more left, courtesy of Ludmoore’s vast library, and he hadn’t quite decided on them yet. He abandoned the romance – or friendship – novel to look at the title.

Necronomicon. _For children_.

… _what?_

Orube looked like she wanted to tear him apart, but Cedric laughed anyway. He laughed (cackled) in the ugliest way imaginable, hacking and wheezing, boisterous and villain-like.

It took him a while to recover from this stupor.

“Alright, hah, alright. I didn’t know I have that, alright?”

“...tell me about it.”

“It’s a human book. Written for humans, by humans.”

“...what?”

“For humans, by humans. They are crazy enough to think they can do necromancy. I don’t think it’s anything real, as with many of their books on so-called magic.”

Orube stayed silent for a while. Her expression hinted that she needed more explanations. Cedric thought that he’d have to be careful, since the subject was a little... delicate.

“Well... you know the so-called books on magic I gathered? I guess that thing was one of those shams.”

Orube seemed suspicious, still.

“Come on, I don’t read them anymore. I know they’re useless, and those humans are just plain horrifying. I mean, some of the other books said that one would have to make a human sacrifice to call this great force from down below... something like that. It’s...”

Silence once again hung in the air. It was awkward, but a different kind of awkward. The atmosphere told him that he shouldn’t have added that last part. Her face seemed to suggest it, too.

“Uh, I mean... I’m going to take it away now.”

He really needed to practice shutting up even more.

…

Thankfully, that mood from earlier had died down. Cedric decided to finish that trashy novel, which surprisingly wasn’t trashy at all. Such books were rare, and especially when discussing human relationships. The title was etched in his mind. “Color My World.”

_The world is so full of contradictions, that my line of vision had begun to blur into a mess of black and white. I never really knew what was so great about it, and why I kept living in it. Still, I want to know. So, won’t you… help me color my world?_

It was quite the pleasant read, labelled with the genre ‘magical realism’. The earnest emotions that flowed in the author’s art of words kept him from finishing up his shelf cleaning. Orube had joined him in reading, too. She had picked up some action comic book – typical. If it wasn’t that, it was the sappy, dramatic romance novels. If not books, she was watching some action comedy or some romantic drama on the box called a television. Cedric would’ve laughed at the choice, but it was just like Orube, he figured.

What he hadn’t quite figured out was why she was, in some way, following him. It wasn’t just the books; he had to fix lunch and take bathroom breaks, and while she did follow him, she was keeping some distance. Maybe she’d grown suspicious of him again? Quite likely; what he said to her wasn’t easily forgivable. One night wasn’t going to change everything.

But she didn’t seem like she was asking for anything, nor did she look like she was concerned about something. She was quite straightforward, too. This was rather unusual. What was it that she wanted from him? What did the world want him to do?

Then again, they’d been trying to find some sort of balance. The day after they’d reconciled, it had been a little awkward. Cedric was trying to keep some distance from her, but he can’t quite figure out if his distance with Orube was appropriate enough already. She’d tried to touch him – his arm, his back, his face, his shoulder, his hair – though even if he didn’t want to, he just flinched.

The night of that same day was just as awkward (disastrous) too. He’d insisted on staying closer to the edge, while she tried to pull him back to the center. “This is your bed; you can sleep here!” “But you’re here, too! I can take the couch!” They struggled (wrestled) with each other for a while, tossing and turning on the bed, (and she scratched his face too, albeit accidentally) until their little strength match ended with Cedric pinning Orube’s wrists on either side of her head. They stared at each other for a while, breathless and frustrated, reminded again that they were human now and their alien strength was long gone.

And that was then it dawned on Cedric (his devilish mind told him so) that he was much stronger than Orube now (that he could do this to her again, but in a much, _much_ different context). Something burned inside him, (oh, how could he think like _that_ of her?) and he immediately released her and rolled off to the edge again… though he had miscalculated the size of his bed and fell off.

(Needless to say, she won the argument, and he had slept closer to her. He had his back turned away from her, as opposed to what happened the night before. And, of course, it was another night spent with his sweater on. It was slightly uncomfortable, but at least it wouldn’t be inappropriate. Cedric thought he needed to get used to the feeling, if they were going to stay like this for a while. He didn’t really mind, but he didn’t exactly agree to it, either.)

At least, that day didn’t pass by with the girls or Orube’s human friends coming by either. For some miraculous reason, they hadn’t the time to ring his doorbell and bother either of them. That was nice, though perhaps, Orube would’ve wanted to spend some time with them, too.

That day didn’t pass by without several question-and-answer sessions, either. Their conversations had been better. Mostly things they never talked about in the past few months; some were things about Basiliade, about Meridian, about the guardians. Mostly trivial stuff; they avoided talking about the events related to the day Orube gave up her powers. Cedric was grateful for that. He wasn’t quite ready to speak about it.

For three days, it had been like this - eating together, sleeping next to each other, and going through rounds and rounds of questions and answers.

But one question had remained unanswered: “Cedric, what are we?”

He had replied to that question with, “How ever you want us to be,” or something along those lines. Orube wanted to make their relationship clear. So did he, really; Cedric could never call himself her friend. Can she? Perhaps not.

Maybe that was why she was following him. She was trying to make clear of what they were, by getting closer to him. It wouldn’t really solve much, would it?

Kandrakar could give them answers, he imagined her thinking, but being Kandrakar, the answers will be vague as the heaviest mists. He tried to find a term in his head: friends, allies, acquaintances…

Right. Mutual understanding. He’d found the term earlier, used between two characters who seemed to be on good terms, but were not quite friends either. In some way, they knew how to read each other’s moods, but they weren’t too intimate either.

“Cedric? I think we should go back upstairs.”

He was shaken from his thinking. Cedric looked at her, confused. Orube huffed. “Cedric, there’s a snowstorm. I was watching the T.V. yesterday. The woman in the box said that the weather won’t be good, and I think the not-good weather is starting now.”

Cedric stood, his legs quite not happy with the sudden change. He wobbled and struggled to view the weather through his display window. Fair enough; the window was already fogged, and from what he can see, the snowstorm had started its onslaught. There was no one on the streets under this dark and gloomy weather.

“Alright,” he said, “I’ll just move those away and check the locks, then we can go.”

“I already checked the basement door.” Orube was getting a little impatient. What did she want from him, again?

Maybe it was better to be direct. “Orube, what’s—”

Just then, Cedric heard frantic knocking. A customer? At this hour? He would’ve refused to open up for them, but then, he heard something else.

“Open the door, Cedric! I know you’re in there!”

Will Vandom. O Queens of Meridian, what did _she_ want from him?

Orube had run to open the door for her friend. Will quickly rushed in and slammed the door behind her.

“You would’ve thought school was cancelled,” the Keeper gasped, out of breath and clearly fatigued, “but Knickerbocker must’ve missed the weather advisory! Oh, and please don’t tell my mom I skipped the afternoon classes!”

Cedric smirked at the thought. “Still not thinking of your mother’s feelings?”

“Don’t you dare—ugh!” Will was clearly irritated, but it was quite a shame she changed her mind. “You, you know what? I’m not bringing up another argument with you.”

Cedric was about to retaliate, but Orube glared at him, so he chose to simply say, “Duly noted, Miss Vandom.”

Will took off her coat, intending to hang it on the rack, but she changed her mind and hang it on the backrest of a chair. She must’ve wanted to dry it, and that’ll be quicker. On the same table where that particular chair was close to, she placed her bag and her cap, hat, whatever it was… beanie. That was the word. Beanie.

“I’ll clean up the mess later—woah, Cedric, this place is a mess.”

This place, referring to his shelves. Cedric frowned. “I was trying to arrange it. Well, we were, Orube and I.”

Will looked shocked. “…so, you made up?”

“If you meant we reconciled, then…” Cedric stopped. Have they, really, reconciled?

Thankfully, Orube took the cue and continued, “We’re fine, Will. Thank you for your concern but, we prefer that you leave our problems to us. We’ll… we’re much better now.”

Will looked like she was about to complain, then the knocking came back. This time, it was a lot more frequent. Maybe there were more…? Cedric groaned. “I’ll get it.”

He opened the door, and in tumbled Taranee, Hay Lin, and Irma.

“Oh my God, Will, you won’t believe what happened!” Taranee exclaimed, “My perfect record in school is now ruined!”

They scrambled to pick themselves up and do the same as Will, placing their coats on the backrest of chairs and laying their other belongings on the table. Three guardians at once. Their leader was here. Where was the last one?

“Knickerbocker saw us!” Taranee continued.

“And Cornelia will kill us if she knew we all ditched her and skipped class!” Irma added, then she gasped, “Oh no! Papa Lair will kill me if he knew I skipped classes! Oh woe me! Somebody wake me up; this has got to be a dream!”

Cedric would want to escape from this scene right now, especially that he wasn’t in any mood to face them at all. No, that’s not quite right; he wasn’t ready to face them and talk about what happened a few days ago.

Then, he felt his sweater being tugged again. Orube whispered, “Maybe we should get them something warm.”

Hm. That was a good suggestion. He could do that, for the meantime, while the girls were recovering from the delinquency they did, and while he was struggling to find the words to say (again). Cedric had expected Orube to join him, but she was pulled into the conversation, something about sneaking out and her abilities. Not that he was disappointed, though, but he wasn’t pleased with it either.

A few minutes after setting the kettle on the stove, he was joined by Will and Irma. Irma started making some sort of snack from… whatever was there. Will went because she had intended to bring Cedric and Orube some food after school, and her schedule had been bumped up. Cedric could feel that she wanted to talk to him, too, but he didn’t want to face her now. Irma wasn’t saying much to him either, but he wasn’t that worried about her.

Well, Wee was there, at least, and Cedric let the creature play around in the kitchen for a while. That eased the atmosphere.

But, with minimal talking, time had passed and the water had boiled. Perhaps Will chose to draw back and simply observe? Or maybe… maybe she was considering him too, like what Hay Lin had suggested a few days ago.

Even so, neither of them spoke a word about what happened back then – in fact, none of them spoke at all, save for small instructions on what to do with the food and drinks. Soon, the three served the snacks along with coffee, tea, and hot chocolate to the other girls.

“Books, coffee, and cold weather. What else could you ask for?” Taranee relaxed, sipping her coffee carefully. “Friends! Lots of friends! Man, I hope Sheila and the others are safe.”

“Hmm,” Hay Lin paused to swallow down, “Maybe if this was a real café, instead? Wait, Cedric, weren’t you going to renovate this place?”

Cedric nodded. “I was, but I need to make a floor plan and get it approved first.”

“Ooh! Can I help? Can I?”

“That’ll be nice; thank you.”

The four guardians looked at each other. They probably didn’t believe what they just heard. It was fine. Cedric couldn’t really believe he just said that last part either.

“Um, Hay Lin…”

“He means it.”

“Taranee?”

“…he means it.”

_Taranee, could you please not…?_

“Oh, sorry ‘bout that!”

_…thank you._

Hay Lin brought the topic of the café back. “A-anyway! Thanks for letting me try! I’m gonna do my best. Also… how about we help you with the menu? The food? The drinks?! Serving them!”

Cedric had one concern, though. “…wouldn’t that mean you’d be working under me?”

Oh, how the tables have turned. Though it had been an innocent question, the implication was strong. But, when the young girls were about to frown and probably chastise him into silence again, Orube laughed. Or well, she tried not to, but she couldn’t keep herself in check. Neither did Cedric, upon his realization. He joined her.

Well, the mood tonight was light enough, at least.

Then, there was banging on the door again. Maybe Cedric shouldn’t have locked it. He opened it, and Cornelia rushed in, out of breath and very much pleased to be indoors again.

“Oh my gosh, I can’t believe it!” she announced, “I actually escaped Horseberg’s class!”

The young guardians gasped.

“How did you do it, Corny?!”

“I told him I was going to the restroom, and then, I hid my bag underneath my skirt, and as soon as I was out of class, I ran like I was escaping a giant, stupid, ugly cockroach!”

“Or a giant green snake who’s up to no good.”

_Girls, please…_

“Don’t say that, Irma. Besides! The giant green snake only has his eyes on this really _beautiful_ cat with _gorgeous_ eyes.”

Damn it. The girls were teasing him, he who was so powerless against them. Cedric would’ve harmed them already, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t deny that he didn’t exactly like them, but he couldn’t deny that last statement either. He could only bury his face in his hands, and listen to the girls speak for now.

“But, um, I kind of saw somebody else on the way…”

“You _kind of saw_ somebody. Which figure of speech is that?”

“I was in a hurry, okay?”

“So who was it?”

Somebody was knocking… on the display window. Cedric glanced – the guardians didn’t seem comfortable with the arrival of this one guest, and said guest didn’t look all that familiar to him either. Still, it would be impolite if he didn’t let the boy in.

Even if it wasn’t locked and even if the girls obviously didn’t want to let him in, Cedric opened the door for his new guest—

“Nigel Ashcroft,” Cornelia groaned.

Perhaps one of the guardians were in a relationship with this young man. Cedric felt that his presence wasn’t allowed to interfere in this… affair. He silently excused himself to get more warm drinks, and went back upstairs to his kitchen.

Orube followed him, this time, thankfully – err no, not thankfully, but… alright, so he was pleased with the fact. They were alone again (with Wee, of course, who was currently playing by himself, taking out an impossible number of items of ridiculous sizes from his… very tiny suitcase), in the sanctuary of his home. Cedric started to boil more water; he thought that he’d have more guests than that.

“Maybe you should stay in bed,” he suggested, “This day could be busy.”

She shook her head. She wanted business done. “So, about this thing with the snake and the cat…”

If Orube wanted to talk about what Hay Lin said, Cedric didn’t think he was ready for anything of the sort. He was… new to this, this feelings thing. He couldn’t discern whether it was positive or negative; he was just sure that he was scared of Orube, and that he respected her more than any other being he’s met in his life.

But he’d entertain her, anyway… and to use the correct or appropriate terms. “About the snake and the cat, what of?”

“What were they talking about?”

_Oh._

Right. Orube was a lot more straightforward.

“They were talking about you and me.”

She was really quiet for a moment. Her brows furrowed, and she frowned. Then her features eased; she was suddenly confused, probably from trying to analyze the meaning of the metaphor. Then, her eyes widened, and she flushed. _Adorable_.

“I hate being compared to a cat,” she complained, frowning again.

Cedric chuckled. “I don’t like being compared to a snake, myself.”

“Really now…” The furrow in Orube’s brows deepened. “Then, then! Do you… what does it mean when the snake has his eyes only on the cat?”

“Hm, I don’t think that implies anything bad. That only means that she’s… captured his attention.”

She relaxed, but her brow was still furrowed and an eyebrow was raised. “In a good way or a bad way?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think the snake has the answer either.”

Orube eased. Maybe she was getting amused, and she sat down, a lot more interested in the topic. Her face was now more of a pinkish hue, and while she wasn’t exactly smiling, she looked satisfied with the way the conversation was heading. Cedric wasn’t uncomfortable with it, either, and it was a better way to talk about how he actually felt.

“So does that mean that the snake is confused?”

“Pretty much. The cat confuses him a lot. And scares him, at some point. But he still admires her, not just for her beauty, but also for her grace and strength. Physically. And, um, figuratively.”

Hey, wait a minute…

“Oh. That’s… that’s interesting. The cat admires the way the snake handles humans. His humor too; her friends say it’s bad. She doesn’t know why, but she still laughs with him.”

Wait…

“Oh, now? Doesn’t she know that in some way, she offends him a lot? But he lets it slide, because he favors her?”

This thing…

“He doesn’t even know what she’s thinking at all, and how she’s been so torn apart inside. She thinks he’s playing her, at times!”

Perhaps…

“Oh, she doesn’t know how much he cares for her. She, and everything she does, all of that drive him mad.”

Perhaps, this was what the humans called ‘flirting.’

And if anything, both of them were acting even more disgusting than the humans did.

But the new emotions were welcome, and very much oddly satisfying, because, well… damn the humans.

“Really? It makes him mad?”

Cedric took the other chair, sitting in front of her. He stroked her hair, then his hand slid down to her very flushed cheek. He felt his temperature rise, particularly around his own face and his chest.

“Yes. Mad. Mad with feelings. He’s begging her to teach him what on earth is he doing and where are they going.”

Orube’s face turned to a deeper shade of red. “…I don’t think she knows either.”

“Good. Then they’re even.” Cedric dropped his hand, placing it on the table. Orube’s hand followed his, though she didn’t let their fingers touch.

“So… how do the snake and the cat call themselves?” she asked.

This was it. Cedric thought for a while, and as he thought, he let his hand draw closer to Orube’s. In sync with his confused mind, his hand stopped, merely millimeters away from what he was thinking he could do. He drew his hand back, but he stretched his fingers. The tip of his pointer brushed a sharp nail, and it curled.

“They’re... pretty much in a… mutual understanding,” he finally said; his fingers relaxed.

“Mutual understanding,” Orube repeated. “Please elaborate.”

“Well.” Cedric tapped his fingers. “In a way, they understand each other, with or without words, even when they’re using different words, like this. Despite each other’s differing views, they respect each other, and never force each other to change. They’ll forgive each other, given the appropriate time and distance. They’re not quite friends. I don’t think they could call themselves friends. They’re not that, from what I can tell.”

“Indeed, they’re not.”

Cedric’s fingers stopped. He appreciated that she thought the same. He just hoped that he’d been telling the truth. “Indeed.”

“So how do they call themselves? How should they introduce themselves?”

Cedric looked at her. Orube seemed concerned about something. He was at a lost at that last part. He remembered the characters from the book he read earlier. Neither of them had a special way to call each other, other than ‘that person’, ‘that girl’, ‘that guy’, and so on. Should he and Orube be concerned, too? “I-is there any other way to introduce oneself? Should we, I mean, should they be concerned with what others think, when those people don’t understand?”

Orube looked pleased with his answer. She gazed to the side, smiling in a way a lady with a lot of secrets would, then turned to him again. He didn’t know she could smile like that, but he liked it, anyway.

“Hm. That’s true,” she mused.

They spent the time in a comfortable silence, simply looking at each other and having some sort of silent conversation. Sometimes, they’d let their fingers brush, then their hands. Orube slid hers up his arm, and onto his hair. He smiled. She tugged gently, and let her fingers slide slowly, careful for any tangles. He reached for her hand, and nuzzled against her fingers. She was so, so warm.

Then, the kettle whistled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy early chapter! :3 The next part will be uploaded on Thursday, as usual, and return to its once-a-week schedule next week.
> 
> Title drop because I want a title drop and a device to show character development. But, I want to tell you guys about **The Garden of Departed Cats** , a very beautiful magical realism book. Please consider reading it sometime!
> 
> I had to split this chapter into two, so actually, you only have nine chapters. I also revised a few things here and there, but I stuck around with many of my original plans and drafts for this thing. I hope you like this two-parter!
> 
> Its original opening scene is the one scene that I love so much, but since I decided to close the bookshop during this time in the story, it wouldn't be applicable. Ahhh, the final cut was cheesy, but this... this is just so priceless. Please enjoy this little blurb under the dashes.
> 
> \-------------
> 
> Mutual understanding. The term was mutual understanding.
> 
> It had come to Cedric as he was idly watching the bookshop. Some girls, again, were gossiping about some couple. “Were they, or weren’t they?” asked one, to which another replied, “What do you care, anyway? They’re in a mutual understanding, and that’s what matters, right?”
> 
> He would’ve passed the conversation off as another discussion on the grossest thing ever, if not for that second girl. She’d shouted at the top of her lungs, “Why the hell do you care about what state of relationship they have?! They’re in a good, healthy relationship, and that’s what matters, right? Give them time; they just recovered from the stuff they’ve been going through! Oh, fuck! I’m out of here. Bye, _bitch_.”
> 
> Or something like that. (He may or may not have made up that last bit.) Either way, that girl amused him a lot, and gave him something more important to think about:
> 
> _Give them time; they just recovered from the stuff they’ve been going through!_
> 
> That bit was the one he remembered the most, and what he related to, the most (even if it did hurt his pride a little). The girls were definitely not giving them time, and by them, he meant himself and Orube.


	7. Chapter 7

When they returned, there were more people and a much heavier atmosphere. (Thankfully, they had extra drinks… and mugs.)

On one table sat Will, Irma, Cornelia, and Hay Lin. All of them seemed uncomfortable.

On a farther table sat Taranee, the girl Cedric assumed was Sheila, and one other boy with brown hair and a mole on his cheek.

Opposite that one was the boy they called Nigel Ashcroft. From what Cedric could see, he was glaring at Taranee, who seemed to be returning the gesture.

On another table, Orube’s friends. Yes. The four of them. Oh, no.

_Children, please don’t make a mess._

Cedric must’ve said that out loud, because Orube giggled beside him. He just hoped it wasn’t too loud. It seemed to be, because nobody paid him extra attention. Good, good. But still, he had to practice shutting up, because this was getting difficult. The more he let himself integrate in this world, the more he put parts of himself out there.

“Should I be the one to serve my friends?” Orube whispered.

He’d really take up on the offer. However, as he opened his mouth to speak, he thought otherwise.

“Maybe I should,” Cedric answered, “I think I need to say a few words to them. Please deliver drinks to the others there.”

They parted, and Cedric made way to the four adults seated together. Of course, they didn’t exactly welcome him, but they more or less welcomed the idea of receiving warm beverages.

“Thank you,” Isabel mumbled, choosing to let the mug of coffee warm her hands first.

“Oh, this is nice,” Magd, no, Majid commented, taking several sips out of his tea.

“If you think you’re scot-free just because you took care of her, well you think wrong,” Raymond said, simply accepting his coffee, “Oh, do you have some sugar?”

“I’ll get some,” Cedric replied.

Joshua, however, was a lot more unfriendly. He didn’t even mind the beverage being set out before him. “Hey, buddy, don’t leave yet.”

Cedric froze. He hadn’t exactly prepared for this conversation, but he’d like to take the situation somewhere else other than this tension. _Here it goes._

“Tell me. What is she to you?”

Maybe this was what Orube was concerned about. ‘Who’s that guy, and why are you hanging around him, Rebecca?’ What a question. Humans should mind their own businesses.

“She’s precious to me,” Cedric simply replied.

“That’s just a load of bull. You don’t mean that at all.”

“I do.”

“You’d just hurt her again.”

“I wasn’t thinking, and my judgment was at its worst that day. And I already told her that she should’ve just beat me up.”

They went quiet for a moment, then Isabel and Majid laughed. Raymond simply chose to chuckle and smile, and Josh had his mouth agape. The other people in the bookshop stared at them, expectedly. Orube hushed the teens.

“That’s like her, alright,” Raymond agreed, “That’s what I thought she’d do. So you guys patched up?”

Cedric nodded.

“I honestly don’t see what she sees in you.”

“…you don’t have to understand. I know I’m not a likeable person, and I apologize for having done that to her.” Cedric wanted to add that he didn’t know why Orube was friends with Raymond either, but he chose to keep silent about that. But, just as he said, he didn’t have to understand, but he’d like Orube to keep her guard up around this creep.

The four adults kept quiet for a while. Cedric hoped that they’d accepted his apology. Wait, why was he trying to get approval from humans?

Raymond called for his attention again. “Good that you’re regretting what you did, and that know what you are.”

“Why, do you?”

Oops. He hadn’t meant to say that out loud. Raymond looked very much offended, but now, it was Joshua’s turn to laugh. Isabel had almost spilled her coffee, and Majid was trying very much to breathe.

“Okay, okay,” Joshua said, “I need air. You… you’re almost like Rebecca, you know? Just worse, much worse, like, hah, a non-likeable version of her.”

“Maybe that’s why they’re together?” Majid assumed. Wait. What did he mean by, ‘together’?

“Are they?” Isabel asked her companions, then turned to Cedric, “Are you?”

Together as in, living together? Or together as in… that _other_ together, the kind of ‘together’ that makes him feel very bothered? Something, again, was burning inside him.

His silence was taken as an appropriate response. Isabel decided, “I’ll take that as, together, more or less.”

Of course, he could always let people think what they think. He shrugged. Orube’s friends looked at each other, and let it go, quickly shifting to another topic. He was thankful that these people were much more mature to understand him (or more or less understand the distance he’s keeping from them).

“Hey! I just thought of something. Maybe you should hang around the university some time,” Joshua suggested, “That way, we could know what kind of atrocities you do, and understand the bullshittery that you commit, so we know how to keep up with your assholery.”

Well, Cedric thought of something else, namely the crimes he committed while he was still working for Phobos. Cedric even dug up memories of his younger days, before he worked for the scheming prince. The whole list included theft, swindling, assassination, unwarranted arrests, unjust violence…

He probably paled then and there, because he felt a very, very cold chill run up his spine.

“Um…”

“Err…”

“Josh, I think you’re pushing your boundaries. Give him a break!”

Cedric wanted to laugh and strangle the young man at the same time, but he chose neither. He simply chose to ride along, smile a little, and excuse himself to get the sugar that Raymond requested. He really appreciated this batch of humans better than the others, and even if they were a bit intrusive at times. Orube chose to hang around a fairly good crowd (compared to the others, of course).

When he got back, Orube was seated with her friends. The atmosphere was a little better now, though Taranee’s glaring game with Nigel Ashcroft wasn’t quite over yet. The adults were whispering about what was going on with the tables at the far side of the bookshop.

Now. Could there be something done, so that the teens ( _children_ ) on that side would ease their nerves and stop spoiling the mood?

Cedric was about to ask Will, but he caught himself. Why should he be concerned about them? It was probably just another childish quarrel. Besides, he should be thinking of how the new layout should look like, or better yet, he should be thinking of how to get back to Meridian… without going through Kandrakar or offending Orube (again).

So he sat behind his desk, and arranged the mess of books that lied on top.

Or rather, that was what he planned to do, until Taranee stood up and shouted, “That’s it, Nigel! If you’re not going to say anything good about my friends at all, then maybe breaking up is for the better!”

She bolted out the door, which was very much unlocked. The other guardians and teens also stood and attempted to follow her, but they halted before the exit. The wind blew, icy and harsh, so the door had to be quickly shut.

“Hey… did that girl…”

“Did she just… run into the middle of a snowstorm?”

One of the adults said it. Cedric was not sure which, but that got Joshua hastily putting his coat on, telling everyone to stay put in their seats, and asking Cedric for more hot water and a thick blanket. Isabel sprang to action, too, wearing her own coat and taking a… flashlight – flashlight was it? – out of her bag.

There’d be no problems with that, really, except that Taranee was most likely in a good condition, especially that she was the Guardian of Fire.

“What was her name again?” Joshua asked.

“Taranee. Taranee Cook,” the girl who was probably Sheila answered, “Please bring her back safe!”

“Alright. Taranee Cook. Please don’t call her phone. That will only drain her batteries. Call her parents instead, alright?”

With that, Joshua and Isabel ran after the missing girl.

Cedric should probably be panicking right now, but he was oddly calm and very much relaxed. Joshua might punch him (again) if the request for hot water and a blanket wasn’t complied, though, so Cedric went back upstairs to do that. Orube, once again, followed him back up.

(Maybe the new layout should include a kitchen downstairs. Going up and down repeatedly was tiring.)

The minutes passed with only silence between them. Wee had fallen asleep on the counter, tired of his small games. Cedric wasn’t sure it was fine to keep quiet, though at this point in time and given the many events that had occurred earlier, he preferred it. Of course, there was no way Orube could read his mind, and she was free to start a conversation if she wanted to.

“They threatened you,” she started, and paused. Cedric turned to her, merely nodding. Orube smiled, and repeated, “They threatened you, didn’t they?”

Cedric shrugged. Was that earlier a threat? Probably. Love made humans violent. He’d never forget the way Will zapped him with electricity for trapping Matt, or the way Matt punched him when the boy was rescued, or the way Matt and Orube risked losing their friendship that very same day, or the way Joshua punched him upon learning the hurtful words he told Orube, or the way Raymond kicked him after, or the way the guardians blasted him with pure energy to get him talking. Wow. The friends Orube chose.

“They’re nice at times.” _When?_ “…though they can be inconvenient.” _Oh._ “Josh came by often when I was still living at Mrs. Rudolph’s house. And Ray, Ray’s my neighbor. We often see each other. He’s very bothersome.” _Oh. Oh, now?_

Something akin to hatred swelled in Cedric’s chest. He bit his lip, very much annoyed at the fact that there were two irritable humans hovering around Orube, and probably very much taking advantage of her naivety. He thought he could deal with Joshua easier. Raymond, however… Cedric didn’t have any good feelings about Raymond, at all.

“I sure don’t miss them.”

Cedric was suddenly relieved at that added part; a little shocked, even. He chuckled. “You’re cruel.”

Orube shrugged. “The cat may not be all that different from the snake.”

Cedric raised an eyebrow, nodding with a smirk. He’d love to enjoy this moment more.

Only if a commotion hadn’t started downstairs. _Again_. ( _Kids, please…_ )

Orube was first to rush down. Cedric turned the stove off before he went to observe the scene. Now in the bookshop, on one side was Nigel. On the other, Sheila and her friend, whoever that guy was. Raymond and Majid had stepped in and was preventing the opposing teens from getting closer and starting a physical fight. Between them, Will was trying to mediate.

Sometimes, silence can’t resolve problems between two human beings, Cedric recalled his not-trashy novel. This was one of those times. Cedric wondered if he should be interfering. This was his house, after all, but he didn’t care for the stupid kids, and he wouldn’t understand why they were fighting.

Even if they were already shouting at the top of their lungs, he still didn’t understand, and he couldn’t bring himself to care, either.

Human relationships were so weird.

…

Somehow, the kids calmed down without his interference. The bookshop had settled into some sort of silence again, and Joshua and Isabel had brought Taranee back, along with, ugh, Matt Olsen.

Matt was currently wrapped in a blanket and had his feet dipped in a tub of hot water. Taranee was, of course, in a good condition, and only needed a warm beverage. (“Miraculously,” Isabel remarked, and Orube made an expression that was very much apologetic. ‘If only she knew why,’ Cedric read off that face.)

Recap time, now.

Joshua, Isabel, Majid, and Ray sat around one table, recounting what happened in Taranee’s absence.

Will, Irma, Cornelia, and Hay Lin sat together on one table, together with the very sick Matt Olsen.

Sheila and her friend, whose name was Luke, sat by the farthest corner. On another table near that, Nigel. They were still wary of each other.

Cedric sat behind his desk, now clean of the books. Orube removed them and placed them on one of the empty tables, so she could sit there. Cedric didn’t understand the logic of such actions, but he was pleased, nonetheless, to be near her. She had taken Wee with her when she took tea for Taranee, and was now caressing the sleeping creature on her lap.

Taranee? She stood next to Cedric, and she looked exhausted. He wasn’t quite sure how this actually happened, or how to feel about her decision to join him and Orube (and Wee).

Well, now he’d understand what had transpired, because Taranee had decided to tell him, inside his head. (And now, Cedric fully understood that she was another frightening guardian. Of course, nobody has beaten Orube out of her spot yet, but still, telepathy was a very enviable and desirable ability.)

As it turned out, Taranee had been trying her best not to use her mind-reading powers on Nigel. They’d been trying, too, to fix what was left of their relationship, and every time, Nigel would ‘blow it up.’ Like today: he was so annoyed that she chose to table with Sheila and Luke. His negative thoughts, being very strong, flowed into Taranee’s mind, and she just ‘blew’.

Along the way, she’d used her powers to warm herself, and found Matt half-freezing already. She tried to warm him up, too, but Joshua and Isabel found them quickly.

Taranee only understood the gist of Sheila and Nigel’s argument. Not that Cedric really cared, but the Fire Guardian ended up telling him anyway. It was how her new friends were taking up most of her time now, and Nigel accused them of being bad influences for her.

Cedric didn’t really want to know most of these, and, as stated before, he didn’t care. The way that Taranee worded these thoughts sounded so selfish; Cedric was even more appalled. He didn’t expect she’d get that too, but she heard everything.

So, she sent back, / _I hate reading your thoughts. You’re such a terrible man._ /

Cedric replied, / _Then stop reading it and start fixing up this mess._ /

Unlike the mouth, though, thoughts were more difficult to repress. Taranee didn’t like that last message at all.

/ _Not you, too? Why is everybody blaming me?_ /

/ _Am I, now? I’m simply telling you to get out of my mind and find something else to do._ /

It got quiet for a while, then Cedric felt a sharp jab against his shoulder. He yelped. “ _Orube_! What was that for?!”

Orube’s eyes widened, and he received a smack across the face. Oops. He shouldn’t have called her that. Cedric tensed. He glanced around the place to see if anybody was paying attention. Fortunately, it seemed that they didn’t hear, or at least, they didn’t register that he had called her by another name.

/ _You’re dead, Cedric. You are so, so dead if they find out._ / Taranee sure was amused by that.

/ _…duly noted, Miss Cook._ / And all he could do is comply.

Cedric glanced at Orube, but she wasn’t paying him any more attention. Oh, fine. He wasn’t expecting their relationship to be… as his not-trashy novel said, sunshine and daisies all the time – warm, playful, and happy (or at least, that was how he interpreted this line). And at least, Orube stayed beside him.

/ _So… how did you make up? I mean…_ /

Taranee was in his head again. Now, she was asking about him and Orube. Of course, she’s got it wrong. Cedric wasn’t like ‘that’ with Orube.

/ _I know. But I want to hear it. I mean, if somebody said the same thing to me, I think I’d leave them for good._ /

Well. That was a thought. Cedric let a hand slide up Orube’s shoulder, and stroked it. His hand was gently removed, though. Maybe he’d ask her later about Taranee’s statement.

Taranee still had their mental link intact, and she chuckled beside him. She’d been reading his mind all along, anyway. Cedric thought he’d get answers from Orube later, but for now, he’d be the one giving answers to the Fire Guardian. He didn’t know why he should be talking (thinking), but somehow, the thought of discussing these sort of things wasn’t all that bad.

/ _I just approached her. Slowly. It was awkward, as expected, but I figured it was… I could endure it. For her. I realized I didn’t want to lose her, for her to die on me, I mean. And that, maybe I could find a balance between her and my ways and my views. We don’t really have much in common. I don’t think so, at least._ /

/ _Which is why I’m asking you._ /

/ _Please don’t. My mind’s in a mess when it’s about her._ /

Damn. He didn’t have a lid to his thoughts, and he hated being so honest when it came to his thoughts with Orube and having to tell them, especially to somebody else. He leaned against her, and this time, Orube didn’t push him away. She even tugged on his hair a little.

/ _So… you’re in love with her._ /

Saying yes was inappropriate, but saying no somehow felt wrong.

/ _And you didn’t want to lose her._ /

He shook his head. Something must be happening to him, and something bad, because Orube gently placed Wee on the desk and was feeling up Cedric’s forehead with her hand.

“You’re not sick, right?” she asked.

Cedric shook his head and looked up. Orube had become worried about him. What did he do to deserve her attention and care?

Suddenly, Taranee slammed her mug on the desk and backed away, then she bolted off and tackled Nigel to the floor. Mostly everyone stood up to see what was going on.

But, they had no need to worry anymore. Taranee cried, “Oh, Nigel! I’m sorry! I’m so, so sorry!”

The four adults seemed relieved, as with the two other teens on the end of the bookshop. The four other guardians turned to Cedric, as if asking what kind of sorcery he’d just performed.

“D-don’t look at me,” he said, “I didn’t know, I was just…”

He’d say he was answering her questions, but everybody would hear that and he’d have to explain himself. Oh, _nothing, we were having a conversation in my head and nobody else was invited, and she decided she’d be doing something other than, I don’t know, reading my mind?_

Will needed answers too, of course, so Cedric beckoned her over. She complied, much to his surprise.

“What did you tell her?” she asked, her voice in a whisper.

_Stuff about me apparently falling in love with—_ no he was not going to say that. “Stuff,” was all that came out of his lips. Will wouldn’t be satisfied with that, so he added, “About me and Orube.” Orube stiffened beside him. She probably would be asking questions later, too.

Will huffed. “It’s true, though. Everybody’s curious as to why the two of you still hang out, despite your heinous crimes and her unmatched loyalty.”

“I just decide to,” Orube immediately defended, “I’m just… I… I’m just stubborn that way.”

“That’s nice of you, but he’s—”

“Give him another chance, Will.”

“There you go again!”

Yes. That was right. Why was Orube siding with him?

“You’re right, Will. He’s a criminal. He kidnapped your friend and manipulated her. He stole the Crown of Light and threatened an Elder of Kandrakar. He probably did more than any of us knows.”

Cedric felt he was suddenly stripped bare. How he wished he could be like Wee now, and turn invisible, even if only partially. He turned his head away, and he was about to stand up, but Orube’s hand forced him to stay.

“But will you leave it at that, Will? Are you not going to help him? Are you not going to try and understand why he’s doing what he’s doing?”

That… that was unexpected.

“Taking Korter’s class helped me understand a lot about this world. Journalism can’t really be biased, or else, we wouldn’t be writing our news reports correctly. These articles are going to be part of history, someday, and the truth, Korter said, could be written several different ways.”

Huh…

“I’m not going to leave Cedric, Will. Not until I get him to speak. There’s got to be a reason why he desires power, why he served Phobos, and why he could commit such crimes. But…”

But…?

“I’d like to let him speak, in time. If you get too hasty in answering all your questions, then you’d be getting wrong information too. Besides, I don’t think Cedric can talk about everything that happened before his rehabilitation. He can do it in his own pace, and I’ll wait for him. Besides, I owe him… he’d been helpful, even if at times, he can be so… so horrible.”

Before he knew it, Orube was already stroking his hair. Damn. _Damn!_ Really. She was so… she was just, so, so… incredible. Cedric found it hard to breathe around her, once more, and realizing that his newfound emotions might spill on his face, he buried it again in his hands.

“Alright, alright! I get it. I’ll try, but no promises. Besides, he’s got two strikes in my record: one for me, and one for Matt.”

Cedric heard footsteps. Will had left them. Good. He didn’t know how much longer he could hold on.

“What did I do to deserve you?”

Finally. He said it. He said what he thought earlier, before the abrupt end of his conversation with Taranee. Really; what did he do? It had been a question that he’d forgotten about, and remembering it made him feel guilt and a multitude of other things he couldn’t name… and having said it had removed this heavy weight in his chest.

“Everyone deserves somebody to lean to, don’t they?”

Cedric sighed. He was truly at her mercy. He finally released his face from his hands. He probably looked like a big mess right now, especially that there was this alien warmth that was lingering around.

“Y-you all right?” she asked.

“All fine. Right.”

Cedric grumbled and looked away. Orube, for some weird reason, found it funny. She giggled and playfully pinched one of his cheeks.

“So… what’s the snake planning to do now?”

“Nothing; he’s completely and utterly defeated, for now.”

It wasn’t exactly a bad feeling, though. But, observing the still asleep Wee, Cedric wished that the two of them could exchange places, now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How I write Joshua and Raymond: I think of them as Miki Kaoru and Kyoichi Saionji to Orube's Anthy Himemiya, respectively. (The Miki and Saoinji from the Student Council Saga, obviously.)
> 
> Orube is an ideal to both of them; the Anthy.
> 
> Joshua is pretty nice, but he puts words to her mouth, (see: Orube special, where he told everyone that Orube will treat them to home-cooked dinner) like how Miki did when he claimed he'd free Anthy so she can play piano as much as she wanted to. Of course, like Anthy, Orube ends up to be the opposite: she can't cook at all. Joshua likes to take it slow, preferring the accidental touching of hands or bumping into each other.
> 
> Raymond is a little harder to like, like Saionji. Raymond is both pretty obsessed with his ideal, to the point of wanting to her them away from everybody else. But, he can't do it, partly because he respects her, partly because he's too weak/cowardly to do it.
> 
> Of course, I see Isabel as some sort of Juri (cool lady person), and Majid to be a Wakaba to Isabel's Utena. They're not together, but they're best buds and they'd plot and kill Ambros Dale together if they could. Being more mature, Isabel would never really say that and would keep her cool, but Majid understands what she feels inside. Of course, she's not the most patient person ever, but he knows how to calm her down. Best bros ever TM.
> 
> Also the Taranee and Nigel thing? I hated their break-up. Taranee is hella selfish (how dare the writers write her off as selfish) in the original comics, so I made her realize it (Cedric went “What did I do to deserve Orube?” and Taranee replaced that with “What did I do to deserve Nigel?” in her head, remembered all his sacrifices for her and how she’s been selfish and insensitive towards him, and decided that all this time she’s been unfair.)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains brief mature-rated passages.

Friends. They were her friends. He had to remember that.

To Cedric, they were inconveniences, side-effects of receiving education and asking around for help.

This was why he preferred to be alone. This, referring to the strands (the blob) of his hair lying on the floor, and this, the pair of scissors on Joshua’s hand that just cut them.

Opposite him, all her ‘friends’ (including the guardians and Matt Olsen, yes) looking with shock and terror. Right next to him, Orube herself, in one of his sweaters, looking like she just lost something.

(At least, they’re both unhurt.)

Cedric tried to calm down. The keyword, again, is tried. Instead, his current set of emotions was registered on his body as tears.

Cedric, former right-hand man of Prince Phobos, who terrorized Meridian and was a big threat to Kandrakar, was crying.

Everyone was sent panicking. Everyone except him and Orube, of course. They were responsible adults who knew how to deal with children like these idiots who played around in his bookshop just because he let them decorate it for the holiday called Christmas. Idiots. Bunch of idiots. Orube instead reached up to dry his tears.

But, hmm. Cedric, a fearsome shapeshifter and a master of illusions, crying at his accidental haircut, now being comforted by the Sixth Guardian of Kandrakar. He inwardly laughed. Was the Oracle laughing now, or did he pull a little trick up his sleeve for this to happen?

“I’m the one who wants to cry,” Orube said, “You looked so nice with long hair.”

Cedric didn’t know what to say, at all, but he had to tell her something, to break his silence. “Err, thanks. You too. You look nice. In the sweater, I mean.”

Er, maybe that wasn’t the best thing to say right now, given the situation, the mood, and what had been happening for the past few days.

The past few days? Hm. Will had encouraged her friends to try befriending Cedric. Befriending meant helping out at the bookshop, because… what else was there to do? He wasn’t interested in exploring Heatherfield (that was an Orube thing), and he wasn’t in their age range either. He had a café to plan for, and books to sort.

The plans for the café went fine. They all decided that Orube, being the middleman between him and the girls, would be the manager. Nobody objected to that; she could direct things in Will’s absence, and it would mean that she had the final say on most concerns. Next, the girls assigned the crucial functions. Cedric, Irma, and Hay Lin would take the kitchen; Orube, Will, Hay Lin, and Taranee were to serve customers. They planned on inviting some of their friends to play on some nights, and to host slam poetry sessions as well. They could arrange the schedules later on.

The designs weren’t final yet, but there was some good, solid progress. Drafts for logos, layouts, and menus were spread on the tables. They were sorted, accepted, and rejected. Cedric would have to go to the local office again for this, then they can start planning in detail.

The book sorting… well… things went a little out of hand.

The girls were excited to see such rare ‘goodies’. They were assigned different genres to sort, and my, my, they enjoyed fishing for books to take home. Cedric would probably lose profit for that, but they were unstoppable.

“Oh my god. Dean has been looking for this edition!”

“Peter won’t believe me!”

“Omigosh omigosh omigosh I need this! Eric would love this!”

“Yahoo! Kiss me baby, you are soooo worth it!”

“Her fashion is soooo in style!”

At the end of the day, the five guardians went home with at least two or three books each. Cedric was even disappointed to find that his not-trashy novel went missing, too. Damn it. He hadn’t reread it again yet, or even had Orube read it. Oh, well. He could always place another order for that book… once he got out of this mess. Wait. Why was he so concerned for that one book? Ugh. Humanity. It’s rubbing off on him, real bad.

The next day was worse. They criticized the books to be disposed of, even teasing Cedric about how he’d acquired them. They even discovered the silly “Necronomicon for Children” book, and that… that was a disaster.

“Let’s just throw it away! Maybe we could burn it!” Cornelia had suggested, holding the damned text in her hands.

Cedric’s mischievous mind suddenly had an idea – an idea he should’ve kept to himself. “No, we give it to Elyon’s heir.”

The book was hurled and it hit his face. He could let that pass.

“No, we give it to _your_ heir!”

Then, Orube said, “Don’t; that's just wrong.”

Of course, Cornelia defended, “But it’s not like his heir is going to be your child and – _oh_.”

That… as much as he (and everyone) wanted to let it pass, he (and everyone) couldn’t. He couldn’t even get it out of his mind.

The day passed by quietly (and very much literally quietly) with this unwelcome and stubborn awkward atmosphere, but the night... that night, he dreamt that Orube was begging him to give her his children. The next day, he couldn’t face her at all, not without remembering that stupid dream – no, nightmare. He didn’t remember what the context of this nightmare was, but it wasn’t worth remembering at all, if that made him look at her so indecently.

Ugh.

And of course, Orube discovering that she was much more comfortable wearing his sweaters… that didn’t sprinkle his days with sunshine and daisies at all. She’d grabbed the wrong sweater that day, but she decided she’d just wear it, and she continued to do the same with the next day, and the next, and the next, even until now. She’d even use the ones he already used and was lying in the clothes hamper, wearing it when she slept. ( _Why? Do you want to kill me that badly?_ )

This little… obsession of hers made him uncomfortable, like she was… she was showing around that she had him dancing on the palm of her fingers. Cedric hated feeling weak, and this made him feel weak, even weaker than he was right now. (But he couldn’t tell her that, because as much as he hated it, he was also pleased that in a way, she was also showing his, his mark on her. Of course, it wasn’t much of a ‘mark’, but she was carrying his identity with her, and that… that made him feel some sort of power too.)

At least she was recovering nicely? Did he have to celebrate that she was now well and able to do more things and unknowingly put him in all sorts of embarrassing situations? Or the fact that she insisted that they sleep together, in spite of everything that had transpired and what it may suggest to him? Or that she took offense when he absolutely refused? How about those moments that she’d brush her fingers down his hair and say it was nothing at all ( _liar_ )? And the moments where she’d move closer to him, closer than comfort, and say that she’s cold or some other excuse ( _you bad liar_ )?

Sigh.

The past days were a mix of accomplishment, tiring, and awkward.

This day wasn’t free of that, either. The girls dropped by, with Matt Olsen carrying a large box of… decorations.

Oh.

Cedric had forgotten about that. He’d taken the ones that Orube had put up that day they… _that_ day. He’d spent the holidays without inviting any sort of festivity up his walls. He made the girls promise to get it back down once this excessive ritual is over. “We will, we will,” they said, rather absent-mindedly, and started talking to each other about gifts. Sigh.

And since they’d been passing by (lies, Cedric could see it on Hay Lin’s face), Orube’s four friends decided to help too.

(They’d ask whether everybody received gifts, and Cedric tried to be polite: he didn’t celebrate this holiday. Fortunately enough, nobody questioned him further, as with Orube, who shared the same stance. Apparently, she’d received small gifts from her friends, but she didn’t mind not receiving a gift from him. That fact gave him a sharp sting in his heart, though she assured that their reconciliation was enough a gift already.)

Only that, they had started to play around after they noticed that Orube was wearing his sweater, and playtime had gotten a little… rough, and a pair of scissors got tangled in his hair and… well…

( _Goodbye, long-haired Cedric. You will be missed._ )

Back to the current situation, Cedric slightly regretted complimenting her back. Joshua and Raymond didn’t have to be told again; they took the hint, and grabbed Cedric with the pretense of taking responsibility. They had been the ones who had started this, anyway.

Cedric, too tired to think of what to do next, let them do as they pleased.

That was a mistake.

For the next hour, they hadn’t done anything at all, except to make Cedric sit in his kitchen and joke around. Mostly sexual jokes, and more from Raymond than Joshua. They probably noticed that he wasn’t comfortable about the topic at all, so the two blokes went on. Humans… were so crazy. Cedric understood that intercourse was a natural part of life. What did his not-trashy novel say? Humans loved to entertain this topic, lust and love, because even if one would boast of having found pleasure and happiness, no one would truly agree with them, having experiences of their own. Or something like that.

So, were these two boasting of their sexual prowess? Probably… not. As if. What kind of girl would be sane enough to choose either of them as potential mates?

Suddenly, the topic shifted to Orube. Finally. He’d been waiting for them to talk about her. It was obvious that this little session would focus on her and her relationship with him (or his relationship with her… didn’t that mean the same thing?). Cedric didn’t know why Joshua and Raymond preferred to beat around the bush first. Unless, of course, they were trying to take his guard down first, before getting to the main battle.

In that case, they were failing. Cedric decided he would not pay much attention. He could handle this.

That was, until a little incident was mentioned.

“Oh, just so you know, the day we met wasn’t the first day I saw you,” Raymond clarified, “It was when you and your journalist friends were over at her house for the first time.” (This man had to explain how he knew that the encounter was the first or whichever chronological order, Cedric noted to himself.)

Joshua chuckled. He was faking it, obviously. “Really? I wouldn’t wonder.”

“So what were you doing?”

“Nothing. Having dinner. Rebecca’s a great chef.”

What.

What?

“What? What do you—what do you mean? She can’t cook!”

Joshua’s eyes widened. Raymond stopped playing with the scissors, mumbling something like, “So that explains the deliveries…” (Oh, this man needed to explain why he knew Orube often had food delivered to her house too… but still, for later. Cedric would get to that later.)

“But,” Joshua reasoned, “She’s always trying to cook something whenever I get called to fix her taps, or to see if her house is burning!”

“You… you idiot!” Cedric shook his head.

“Why? Doesn’t that mean she’s trying her best to learn new recipes?”

“No… no… no!” Cedric was losing it. First his hair, now his sanity. He could really use it if some of his powers would come back right now.

“You mean…”

“That’s because she doesn’t know how to cook! Oru—Rebecca can’t cook! At all!”

“Um, then…”

“She can’t cook. What part of ‘she. _Can’t_. Cook.’ Do you not. Understand?!”

“So, Joshua,” Ray mused – how _dare_ he interfere – “Does your fantasy of a perfect wife include her making dinner while wearing nothing but an apron?”

Cedric could not believe his ears. He was not having this, this childish talk (he was NOT imagining Orube like that, thank you very much) right in front of him.

“Not exactly, but Ray,” Joshua challenged – how _dare_ he accept it – “You don’t think it’s sexy at all, the image of a lovely girl innocently asking you about a lot of things, huh?”

(Cedric told himself he was with sexually repressed babies. He wasn’t hearing this, he wasn’t hearing this, he wasn’t hearing this at all and it was a waste of time to entertain such _baby_ talk…)

“No, of course it’s sexy! But, why make her work, when I can hire all servants in the world for her? That way, she can lie with me all day, and I don’t mean innocently.”

(Cedric was NOT—)

He wasn’t taking any more of this. In a matter of seconds, he had literally kicked out the two blokes. These pigs. He was huffing and very much done with their dirty antics (and even he himself wasn’t free of crime and sin, he wouldn’t stoop so low like _that_ ). He already considered both Joshua and Raymond banned from his house _and_ the bookshop (soon-to-be-café). He’d love to have Orube permanently live with him; that can be arranged. And, of course, Cedric would also have to hang around Heatherfield University to keep Joshua away from her, or maybe he can ask ( _threaten_ ) Isabel and Majid.

Unfortunately, the world was cruel to him, especially with Matt. The unfortunate boy made the mistake of approaching Cedric. Cedric, still on the high of his emotions, whatever they were called, could not stop himself anymore.

“Is everything that you people think about is _sex_?!”

Cue awkward silence.

Cue awkward glances.

Cue awkward Matt going pale then bright red in a matter of seconds.

It took a moment for Cedric to register that Isabel and Majid were still there; that the five guardians were sharing similar red faces; that Orube seemed angry and disappointed in him.

He just… he just said that out loud, didn’t he?

In front of teens, who were struggling to get out of their childhood; in front of two mature adults, who seemed a lot older than their two other friends; in front of the person he respected the most and the one person he swore he’d never talk this certain sensitive topic with.

Cedric really, really, _really_ needed to practice shutting up. Very, very badly.

…

It was probably a good hour or two, maybe even three, before Cedric could be coaxed out of his room and get his hair done. This time, the guardians would handle it, no matter how much they don’t trust their own grooming skills. The air was still awkward, thanks to his stupid, _stupid_ outburst earlier.

At least, Isabel and Majid left. Will stammered, but Cedric understood that Joshua and Raymond didn’t go home without receiving proper scolding. Good. They had freedom to speak about ‘Guardian Things’ now.

Opposite his seat, Cedric could see Matt Olsen lying on the couch with a very sour face. His cheek had a red imprint of what looked like a hand. Taranee whispered in their mental link that, thanks to that outburst, Matt’s thoughts spilled in to hers, which was currently linked to Will’s and the others’… Cedric replied back in his head that he need not know the other details.

Around him, the young girls were trying to determine how to properly cut his hair. Hay Lin was measuring with a ruler; Taranee was saying something about volumes; Will and Irma were deciding on the style (probably; he’d seen them making shapes with their hands). Cornelia was snickering about showing his new “hair-do” to Elyon (oh, he needed to settle things with her too, didn’t he…?), and had this thing called a camera ready in her hands.

Orube spent her time walking around in circles and occasionally giving some attention to Wee. Cedric wanted to explain what happened earlier, but she didn’t look like she was open to any discussions. He needed to clear his name… not that he would really ‘clear’ it, per se, but at least, rid himself of that one burden.

In a few minutes, the fate of his hair was decided, and all Cedric could do was close his eyes, and let his mind wander.

He started with Kandrakar. Kandrakar was to be blamed: the shitty fate of his life, since his birth and service in Meridian, until his stay on Heatherfield, and even now as he was trying to enjoy what little could be enjoyed. He wanted answers from them, too. If they didn’t interfere, then they shouldn’t be sending the guardians, who represented their names, and they shouldn’t be sending their elders or their white heralds as ambassadors or messengers, either. If they did admit to interfering, then they should’ve found solutions to the major problems that Meridian and any other planet and world had, or at least help ease some of these problems. That way, the worlds wouldn’t have ended up with severely traumatized children, or many broken soldiers. Kandrakar just needed to make up their damn minds.

_Snip!_

Then, his mind drifted to home. Meridian. He’d love to go back. Orube was right about him missing it. He wanted to live in its colder climates again, to eat its food, to drink its water, and to breathe its air. He was comfortable there, and even if not-so-desirable memories lingered, a part of him would always be with Meridian. Even if they wouldn’t accept him, he’d still try to go back. Oh, maybe they’ve already seized his land and his properties, too, revoked his titles and striped him down to nothing. That was fine, too. He’d simply return to the nothing he started with, and work his way from there again. He was smart, and he wouldn’t simply give up.

_Snip! Snip!_

And Heatherfield? Waste of time. But he’d admit; it had taught him a lot of things. He’d learned how to get stealthier, to mix in with a rather unwelcoming crowd. He learned new tricks and new wordplays. He learned how to avoid people and how to bump in to the right person. He learned…

_That’s what I thought too, the first and last time I tried it!_

He learned… he learned emotions.

Cedric felt hair fall down his face. As much as he wanted to open his eyes and look at Orube, he couldn’t. The edges of the scissors were cool against his skin. What were they doing now? He couldn’t wait. They had to hurry. He wanted to see her. He wanted to tell her something. He’s not quite sure, but he wanted them to be alone, and fast.

_Snip! Snip! Snip!_

Hair fell down his nose – what _were_ they doing? He felt several pairs of hands brush across his face and his neck frantically. Who knew that a haircut would be this messy? He felt even more itchy with their gestures.

“Um, uh…”

“Ta-da~! The new, improved Cedric! …I hope.”

“Mm, yeah. Better than that accidental haircut.”

Cedric opened his eyes, then a mirror was handed in front of him. Ugh. His reflection was… terrible. That was it. He just looked so terrible. The girls seem to think the opposite, though. Wee bounced up to him, and started snickering.

On the other side, Matt Olsen had burst out laughing. “It suits you!” he cheered – jeered? – “Yes! Keep that on, Cedric! It suits you so much. You look like a stuck-up brat! Ha, ha!”

“…I don’t like it.”

The guardians’ faces fell. Good. Good to know that he still had Orube on his side.

“I don’t like it at all,” Orube repeated, glaring at him, or his hair. Whatever. Her gaze was held at the general direction of his head.

Nervously (wow, she was nervous), Will asked, “Um, would you like to redo the cut?”

“No! No more cutting! Go home! I mean, thank you, but you can go home now!”

The teens, still proud(?) of what they’ve done, went down and bade goodbye.

“Rick funny! Rick funny!” Wee repeated, before he was locked inside the bathroom. Cedric was having nobody else tease him about his appearance anymore. He hadn’t given his hair this much importance before; why worry now? He’d been called out on it, been called weird and feminine and inappropriate, and, and… and that was because, he was human now. Many humans around him didn’t like how he had long hair.

Fuck. If he had still been in Meridian, this would’ve been a shame. He hadn’t cut it; he simply let it grow, and all those years… shit. No, there’s no need to go emotional on something as insignificant as… hair. Sure, it was difficult to maintain, having to brush it every day, wash it, groom it. It…

But it wasn’t right. It wasn’t right at all. It was so sudden. But still, he… Fuck…

Whatever he was truly feeling inside, it was expressed on his body as tears. He didn’t fight them back anymore. Orube was allowed to see this side of him, even if he hated looking weak.

“Fuck it,” Cedric groaned, wiping the unstoppable tears, “I’m not meant to have short hair.”

“I know. You look terrible,” she lamented, kneeling before him, “I let them play around too much. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for.”

“I do. I was the one who insisted on making you befriend them. Or maybe it was them befriending you… darn it, how do you properly say that?”

Cedric managed to smile. “Does it matter? We’re not good with Earth language.”

“…that’s true.”

She started to stroke what was left of his beautiful, long hair. Just that other day, she’d been stroking it, letting her fingers play along its lengths and free its strands of tangles. When they’d continued spending the nights together, he felt her hands tangling themselves in his locks. In the mornings, she’d offer to help him brush his hair, and he usually brushed the offer aside.

Now, there’d be no more of that.

Cedric hadn’t noticed how much attention she’d paid to his hair. He hadn’t noticed how significant his hair had been, either. It felt too natural, but now that the motions of her fingers would stop abruptly…

Something lodged in his throat, and for the first time in so many years, he allowed the wave of emotions to rock him, and he was sobbing and sniffling and choking. He cried in Orube’s arms, and she merely stroked his back now. How he wished his hair still flowed back there…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be funny, but it ended up being a stressed-filled episode for Cedric. I needed to show a physical change for Cedric too. He’s gone through emotional and mental changes through the last chapters, so might as well seal the deal with an old-fashioned haircut.
> 
> As for how Cedric looks like in his new hairdo, you may now imagine an older and more muscular Felix Agreste with a longer face. (No really; I accidentally drew an older Felix Agreste while trying to do the Cedric with short, layered hair.)


	9. Chapter 9

Cedric still missed his long hair, even if the haircut wasn’t fatal at all.

For some reason, Orube had been paying extra attention to him. She’d ask him all sorts of questions – hey, didn’t she say he can tell her at his own pace? Of course, it wasn’t related to his past, but rather, his preferences.

It got annoying at times. He chose to ignore her during these moments. It eventually came to a point when she stopped, and their communication was back to only necessary dialogues.

The air was so, so cold, but time paid no heed to that.

The holidays were over. Orube was fine again, and she’d started her routines once more. She got up too early for her morning exercises in his backyard, came back with take-out for breakfast, and left again for her classes or her job… jobs. She was a full-time editor-in-training for Heatherfield News (or was it a magazine under Heatherfield News?), and a part-time employee for Matt Olsen’s grandfather.

Sometimes, she’d be gone the whole day, and come back at night. She’d tell him she dropped by her house to get some of her possessions, mostly clothes. He’d tell her to stop wearing his sweaters already. She wouldn’t really listen. He decided to give up, since some of his noisy patrons who’d recognize his sweaters on her would suddenly shut up.

The holidays were over. Cedric decided his basement was still a mess, but because the guardians had helped him get it back to one piece again during their little ‘friendly’ visits, he could open the bookshop now.

His usual customers were divided on their opinion. Some liked the change; some didn’t. All of them pointed it out, how his image changed so drastically over the holidays. They also noticed his lack of smiles and how he’d gone ‘softer’ and more patient nowadays. He merely looked at them and continued with business, as usual.

The holidays were over. The guardians were at their game again, trying to live their lives, ‘save the world,’ or whatever business it was. Cedric would overhear the six girls talk about school, about boys, and about a portal to Kandrakar that appeared in his basement, for, apparently, easier communication.

Eventually, Cedric resigned to the fact that his house had become the guardians’ new headquarters. (Why, though? They had Villa Rudolph, too, and that was far more convenient, since they had keys to that place.) He had his bookshop keys duplicated for the girls, and gave them to Orube and Will.

The holidays were over, but still, he and Orube hadn’t talked much.

He couldn’t stand it anymore, of course.

So one night, instead of sitting opposite her on the dinner table, he sat next to her.

“Maybe I was an ass when I started ignoring you,” Cedric said. That didn’t come out quite right, but what was he to do? He’d said it already.

“I figured.” Knew it. “But I think you had some reason to.”

“I don’t. It’s not your fault.”

It was silent again after that. Cedric merely played with his food, not knowing what to say next.

But perhaps, Orube had been feeling the same about the silence. She hadn’t touched her dinner much either, not even with Wee threatening to eat both of their meals.

“What do you want me to do?” she asked. How direct.

“Nothing. I don’t know.” The second part was probably closer to the truth.

“What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know.”

“Don’t you want to go home?”

Cedric did. He simply glanced at her, then at Wee who ran away with their dinner, then his eyes fixed themselves on the ceiling. Even if he did want to go home, he wanted her with him. He’d want her to be there. He wanted to share more of him with her… and vice-versa, even if those things aren’t things they mutually agreed upon.

“It’s fine. You can go home, if you want.”

“But I want you with me.”

He… he hadn’t meant to say that out loud. Even Orube herself was shocked, her eyes very wide and her face flushed. But, Cedric wasn’t going to let the night go to waste. He decided he’d take responsibility for that little slip of the tongue. “Whether it’s going back to Meridian, or staying here in Heatherfield, or even if you want to go back home to your beloved Basiliade.”

He felt a gentle kick to his leg. Orube was chuckling. “I didn’t know you could be this… this affectionate.”

“I’m not.” He turned away from her. That wasn’t true. If he was, then what they were having was… was something close to that disgusting emotion or whatever that he so loathed with all his heart.

She leaned against him, settling her head on his shoulder. His arm instinctively wrapped around her; his hand settled near her wrist. Cedric told himself – they weren’t like Matt Olsen and Will, or Nigel Ashcroft and Taranee. It wasn’t a cover, either, and even if was a cover, Cedric Hoffman and Rebecca Rudolph didn’t necessarily mean Cedric, the Master of Illusions, and Orube, Warrior of Basiliade.

But, damn it. Damn it all, damn himself, and damn this world. He wanted this moment to last.

“Why don’t you tell the Oracle of your choice, then?”

What a suggestion, but he’d rather spend the night with her now. Maybe tomorrow.

“Tomorrow?” He didn’t mean to say that out loud either, but oh, well. “Alright. Let’s go tomorrow.”

Cedric was about to lean back and simply enjoy the moment, when he remembered. “…how?”

They broke away from each other for a moment, trying to find the answer in each other’s faces. They didn’t, so they simply laughed.

…

It was after breakfast that they remembered the portal in the basement. They could use that. According to the girls, they simply had to think of their destination. Good.

The image in the mirror-like portal swirled and showed a vision of Kandrakar and its while halls. Cedric gulped. He was about to face the one place (and person) that he didn’t want to see (and he didn’t really care about), but he’d do it anyway. There was no going back now. Besides, he had to ask the Oracle to give Orube’s powers back.

She probably sensed his discomfort, for he felt her hand on his. Cedric gave her a look. Orube smiled at him. Alright. Time to go.

They stepped forward, and in an instant, they were teleported to Kandrakar. The trip was very short, and their lone audience was already waiting for them.

“Orube! Cedric!” the Oracle greeted, “Welcome back to—oh.”

Cedric raised an eyebrow. The Oracle was staring at him. What was it—oh. Right. Cedric’s hair was short, and that was quite the sight for a lot of people. He simply looked away.

“Hearing about it from Will was already saddening enough. Seeing it in person is… truly disheartening. I must apologize.” For what? “It must’ve been a precious part of you.”

Cedric didn’t know the need to sugarcoat the situation, but he appreciated the apology. He didn’t exactly accept it, though. He had a lot more questions, and he was very sure that they weren’t going to be answered.

“Answers will come to you in time. Now, let’s get to the point, shall we? Follow me.”

His mind was being read (again).

“You leave me little choice, Cedric.” He was so sure that the Oracle was chuckling. Orube was giggling beside him, too. Oh, well.

They were lead to an unfamiliar hall. Its walls depicted girls, perhaps the guardians, controlling energy in their hands. To Orube, though, it was a familiar place. She gasped, “The Aura Hall!”

In the middle of the hall were five orbs swirling around. Orube told him about this one time… the Aurameres, which represent the powers of the five guardians. Cedric looked away from them. He felt desire in his heart; this was not the right place or time to be thinking of committing another crime.

“Old habits die hard, Cedric.”

He knew what it was about, but thankfully, the Oracle chose to change topics.

“As you know, Orube, your Master Luba once guarded the Aurameres. Blinded by her concern for the guardians and for Kandrakar’s future, she tampered with them, and… it ultimately lead to her sacrifice.”

Cedric heard about that once, along with the information about the orbs. He felt Orube’s hand tighten around his.

“I am fully aware that she had failed her test, and that she had to pay dearly for her mistake,” she said – was that a choke or two there; a sob, perhaps? “Everybody makes mistakes, don’t they?” Oh, this again.

“Yes, including the guardians. Their task was to watch over Cedric, and they failed when he found Ludmoore.”

Cedric still remembered the argument over his case very well, even if he’d tried his hardest to forget about it, and even if he was swayed around by Heatherfield and its inhabitants.

“I know that too, Sir.”

“I simply don’t fully understand, Orube, about why you chose to carry their burden, too, and even more. The girls were to have a limited use of their powers. They should’ve been unable to use and control their powers freely without going into their guardian forms.”

“But their powers merely make them very tired, now.”

Cedric didn’t hear that discussion back then. Then again, that wasn’t the focus of his bruised ego during that time.

“Yes. And you… you willingly gave up your own, rather unjustly. It wasn’t directly your fault.”

“In a way, it still is, Sir, because I’ve been spending a lot of time at the bookshop.” Now, that one, Cedric remembered. “But Sir, might I ask? Where are Elders Yan Lin and Endarno? And why are we the only ones here?”

The Oracle sighed. “I was hoping to tell you of the future you might want to take. Both of you.”

The shift in topics was sudden, but… this. This was it.

“I took you here, Orube, to take a peek at your possible future.”

“In here, Sir?”

“Yes. You might want to follow after your Master’s footsteps and be the new Keeper of the Aurameres.”

“Sir I couldn’t possibly—”

Orube released his hand. Cedric whipped his head around, but he quickly turned away again. Looking at the Aurameres blinded him.

“Please think about it first. And as for you, Cedric—” He tensed at the mention of his name, “—should you have passed your test, and desire so to go back home to Meridian, your path has been prepared.” What? “I have personally asked Queen Elyon to help you with your continued rehabilitation. You will have land and property, but you shall assume another identity. As in Heatherfield, you will be living a ‘quiet, normal life of a nobody’. Should you deviate once again…”

The Oracle grew silent, and the air tensed.

Cedric considered his options. He could, of course, take the Oracle’s offer. Why refuse what was being given to you for free? Cedric would be back in Meridian in no time and little trouble. Living a nobody life would still be humiliating for someone like him, but he could always try to climb the social and political ladders again. He’d be back to the place where he was most comfortable with, and certainly, to the playing field where he’d have an upper hand in.

However, that would mean, or at least imply, that he was bowing down to the Oracle’s ways. Certainly not. He would also be bowing down to Elyon, who was younger than him and was his enemy. Absolutely not. In his current state, she could obliterate him. Actually, in his current state, anyone in Meridian could easily kill him, and since the Oracle didn’t offer so, Cedric thought that it was useless to bargain for the return of his powers at this point.

But, of course, he did want to go back. He already thought of talking things with Elyon before, but…

This wasn’t the time. Not yet.

Besides, that talk with Orube before… he meant that.

Cedric blindly grabbed for Orube’s hand. Perhaps they’d thought the same, and their hands even bumped. Their fingers interlaced, tight and firm.

“I think both of you have decided,” the Oracle announced, “Let’s hear it.”

Cedric gave a tug on Orube’s hand. She should go first, and so she did. “Sir, I appreciate the thought, but with all due respect, I cannot take that path. I am still far too immature and weak. My self-control might fail me, as with my teacher. Perhaps in the future, when my mind is strong enough. But for now, I shall refuse your offer. Besides, I…” Orube’s grip tightened again, but Cedric didn’t mind the pressure. “I can’t leave this man alone. I… I don’t want to. If I take an eye off him… and besides, I…”

Cedric chuckled. “I know, I know; I got it.” He dared to look up again, and into the Oracle’s eyes. The Aurameres still appeared very bright to Cedric, but he could bear it now. “My answer’s pretty much similar. I can’t believe you’re actually telling me to play servant under your phony, pretentious ways and under that brat’s phony, pretentious rule. You’re not going to answer any of my questions, anyway, and I doubt the queen brat already fixed her ancestors’ many errors.”

He chuckled again, and looked at Orube. “Besides, I’m not done with Heatherfield yet, old man.”

Orube frowned. “Hey, don’t call the Oracle—”

“And of course, won’t you let me exact my revenge on Will Vandom, at least?”

“No!”

The two of them probably argued about behavior in Kandrakar for a good minute or two, when Cedric noticed the Oracle was laughing at him. (Now that Cedric thought about it, he’d been making a fool out of himself every single time Orube was involved.)

“Ha, ha, you two,” the Oracle mused, “You’re too funny. But, congratulations, you pass the test.”

Test.

It was a test.

Cedric thought for a moment.

In front of them were the Aurameres, symbols of the guardians’ powers, brightly shining, but already appearing lackluster to him.

The Oracle gave them options that probably wouldn’t turn away, if they were still their past selves. (Or at least, for Cedric, anyway. Still, he imagined Orube would’ve wanted the honor of accomplishing a task her teacher once did, too.)

Cedric huffed and frowned. This sly, sly old man.

“Your humility makes Kandrakar proud, both of you. And especially you, Cedric.”

Cedric looked away. Could he not, please…

“Well, since you said so, you’ll be returning to Heatherfield.”

Good. They better be—wait.

“What about our powers?! I mean, her powers?”

Cedric himself was surprised at how he corrected himself. He wanted his powers back, really, but perhaps, he wanted Orube to regain hers more. Besides, it didn’t feel right, to let her explore the world as a mere human.

But the Oracle, ever the sly old man, merely smiled. “Let’s see.”

And in an instant, Cedric and Orube were wrapped in a bright light, and teleported back to the bookshop basement. Clever, very clever. Cedric groaned.

“Give me a good reason not to strangle him the next time we meet.”

“Mm, it’s his fault we met?”

“That’s the opposite of what I asked for, unless… unless you feel the same?”

Cedric stared at Orube, who merely looked away and took her hand back. His own hand suddenly felt very empty.

“…I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Liar.”

Orube smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bad girl, Orube. Blame Cedric for influencing her.
> 
> Then again, we don't get much of Orube's opinion regarding their relationship, except at the end. Bad writers, bad. :( (And of course, classic Oracle. :) Who forgets classic Himerish? I felt that as a W.I.T.C.H. fanfic, there had to be an obligatory Kandrakar scene.) A lot of it is hinted through Cedric’s perspective, of course.
> 
> I’m probably a bad writer too. though. I had a lot of scrapped ideas for this fic. T_T The file is 80 pages long with 34k words, along with all my writer’s notes, original scenes (except for the one I lost and the original original drafts on my notebooks), and some of the planned scenes and ideas.


	10. Chapter 10

It’s not quite the life he wished for, but it was bearable; made even more bearable by the thought that he himself chose this path.

Cedric sometimes wondered about an alternate future, where Wee hadn’t caught him that day. Cedric chuckled at the thought; he and Orube wouldn’t probably be… close like this. Maybe he’d succeed in his goal. Maybe something would go wrong. Maybe they would part rather bitterly, without fully understanding each other.

Orube didn’t like his string of imagination at all, when he told her. They had plans for a nice dinner outside, to this nice place with decent food. It was a thank-you gift, he said, but now, he was saying such horrible things, and they hadn’t even stepped a foot outside. It was even a chore to get their awkward conversations going, since their visit to Kandrakar. How could he ruin the mood? How could he be thinking of such a sad story?

“What?” he said, “Villains get sad stories, don’t they?”

Orube frowned. “What if, in that other future, in that other… scenario, you die? What am I, what’s the other me supposed to do, then?”

Cedric smiled. “Jump up and down in joy, because that other me is a jerk to let himself die. In fact, I’d call him a jerk. Alternatively, I’ll kill him so he can die faster.”

“Hey, stop talking like that.”

“I can’t. And oh, how I feel so upset you’d think I’d die for you.”

She gasped. “And why would that be so?” Orube had never looked any more upset and disappointed… and embarrassed to be caught. The way her cheeks turned pink was somehow adorable, and Cedric would’ve wanted to laugh, but he’d rather calm her down now. He couldn’t force the smirk off his face, though.

“I remember telling you this, months ago, but you can’t do without me.”

“I can—” She paused, reconsidering, then breaking into a smirk.

“And I’m not letting you. I told you, right? Whether in here, over there, and everywhere, I want you with me.”

She lunged herself at him, and he stumbled about for balance. He laughed.

“And you think _I’m_ the one who can’t do without _you_?”

“Yeah.”

“You jerk.” The tone in her voice was different, and she buried her face in his sweater. “As much as I hate to admit, you’re right. And I’m not free of guilt, either.”

Cedric widened his eyes. Where was she getting at? Where was this coming from? He thought he was the villain here. He wanted to tell her that what she claimed wasn’t true at all, but he let her speak on.

“You’re not the only one who’s been deceiving the guardians. Believe me. I’ve… I’ve been faking it.”

“Faking what?” The air was suddenly very cold, and very dry, like time stood still to listen to Orube, too.

“My fondness for this world. My fondness for Heatherfield. I’ve been faking all that. That is my sin.”

Cedric gulped. That… if… huh… He couldn’t form any coherent thought in his mind. He simply… couldn’t believe it.

“Even…” he managed to say, “Even your happiness?”

Orube nodded, nuzzling into the crook of his neck. He felt his guts pool at the bottom of his stomach. That… that couldn’t have been….

“But, I can tell you, I can guarantee you… that the only time I’ve been truly happy… was when I was with you!”

Cedric’s throat went dry again. Sweat trickled down the side of his face and crept into his palms, which were shaking as he held her tight. He could distinctly hear the pounding in his ears, and feel the dampness on his shoulder. No… it can’t… no…

“Orube…”

“I used you! I deceived you!” No… “I was so hurt when you trapped Matt in the Book of Elements… I was hurt too when you said our meeting was a mistake…” No, that one was a lie… that wasn’t… “But I thought that I deserved it, because I used you as an excuse to enjoy Heatherfield!” Orube… “I used your pain to alleviate my own!” No… “I wanted to justify my attempts to understand this world… and I… I…”

Cedric shook his head. _No, Orube, no…_ Whether he was telling her that she didn’t do anything wrong, or that he didn’t want to hear more, he couldn’t tell. But he knew that, at this moment, it was the best time to practice listening. He tried to comfort her by caressing her back.

“I was so happy when you arrived; I was so happy when I saw I wasn’t alone, that there was someone I could relate with. And yet, I… I took that for granted. I’m not the hero you think I am… I’m not fit to be a guardian! I chose to accept punishment from the Oracle for this sin! I…! I’m just the same as you are!”

“No…”

“I’m just the same as you are…”

“No. No, you’re not.”

“I’m just the same…”

Cedric sighed. It would be useless to argue. He simply let her cry on his shoulder, and thought about the things she just revealed to him.

…

“For a warrior, you’re quite the crybaby.”

Cedric thought that was the lamest thing to say after Orube’s confession, but he decided it was the most appropriate one. She’d want to laugh after crying her heart out, just as he did once before. His expectations weren’t all that disappointed – she growled, accompanied with a pout, while she rubbed the fluids off her face.

“Hey.”

“…what?”

“Thank you.”

Orube stopped in her motions, and Cedric let his own hands continue her task.

“There’s nothing to thank me for.” She choked in the middle of her statement. No, no, no…

“No. Thank you. For being honest. I’m… I’m quite flattered, even.”

“There’s nothing flattering about being used.”

Cedric momentarily left her – how he mourned being away from her for that moment – to wash his hands. “…you’re right, but I’m flattered that you’d open your heart to me, rather than any of your friends.”

Orube didn’t say anything. She quietly sat, simply staring as she let him wipe her hands with a damp cloth.

“Dry your tears,” he told her, “I’ll go get changed.”

She only nodded.

When Cedric came back, she was sitting on the table. “What took you so long?” she grumbled.

He shook his head. Well, that was a quick recovery. She wasn’t one to dawdle too long, anyway. Besides, he did tell her; her confession was much appreciated.

“Come on.”

Cedric lead her outside, and locked his doors. They started walking, side by side, like they did back then, when he’d offered to pay for her meal, in return for that damn cappuccino.

Actually, maybe he needed one of those now. It was so cold.

As they passed by the many buildings doused in white and the passersby clinging onto thick coats, Cedric let his mind wander, to the many things that had happened, to the many changes that occurred. That way, he could… he could breathe, from that confession.

Breathe. In. Out. The snow fell, like small white feathers carried by the soft breeze. He’d say that the small white crystals were glowing, especially that the skies were so dark. The lampposts above Heatherfield were rather dull, though there was enough light from all the display windows. The snow under his feet crunched; there was a fine layer of white on the pavement, though the sidewalks were clear and safe enough to walk on. The weather report said that the temperature would continue to rise in the following days.

The winter was still in its prime, and spring was still far away.

His customers were still getting used to the change. They’d tell him he’d gone soft; that his new look made him look more educated and proper; that his wide business smiles had disappeared, and replaced with small, genuine smiles that were far more precious than he’d think they were; that his speech had gone a little impolite at times but quite a lot franker. It wouldn’t count as a compliment, but he knew better. Some patrons missed his ‘old self’; some liked his ‘new self’ better. Well, that didn’t matter; they were stuck with the ‘new self’ of his (and so was he and the world).

Orube’s friends still dropped by. They’d all come and apologized for the haircut. Half-heartedly, in a way, that is, but Cedric let them be. They’re all fools, of course, but he had to recognize the fact that Orube chose them. Hah. The four adults borrowed a variety of books, and certainly borrowed a lot of his time. Cedric did not mind; he owed them at least that much. Besides, it was good practice for future conversations.

The girls still had a role in his life. It only slightly changed; everything was pretty much the same. Cedric would hear them talk about the same dumb things, and they always had the same dumb routine. On weekday afternoons, they’d hang around until their curfew. On weekends, at least one of them would spend some time there. At times, they’d ask him about a few textbooks. At times, Matt Olsen would be there, scheduling the return of borrowed poetry books very slyly. Sometimes, Will and her friends could get a little inquisitive, and they’d try to get him to talk about what exactly happened to him. They’d even ask Orube where she hid the ‘real Cedric’.

The ‘real Cedric’ was still right here, thank you very much. He’d simply adjusted to his… task better, that’s all. Cedric chose his path, after all, and he’d be a fool to disappoint himself. Being a bookshop owner meant that he had access to a lot of information. If he knew a bit of everything, then he could talk to practically everyone… except that he wasn’t interested in everything, and he didn’t fancy the idea of talking to _everyone_ … And, of course, the conversations! He had a rule that stated everyone to be as quiet as possible, but that never stopped anybody from having a small discussion or two. Hah. At least his ears were trained to sift about and pick up juicy gossip. He could always think about Meridian another day, when the queen brat would be mature enough and when Kandrakar would get a little more not vague.

Orube? Still here, exercising at dawn, attending school in the morning, exploring Heatherfield until afternoon, coming home at dusk, sleeping next to him at night, and messing his life up every moment of the day. She shared Cedric’s closet, and was definitely getting… bolder, every day. She’d gone from simply sharing his bed to hugging him when they slept, and she’d been replying to his flirtations without referring to themselves as a snake and a cat. Maybe he could get her to wear that red dress that hung on her end of the closet, one day. It was so nice; he’d never seen her actually put it on. Very unlike of Cedric to think like this, yes, but he’s gotten a lot more open to new ideas, especially about the sweaters. He’d gotten used to that. And, of course… that confession earlier…

That confession earlier. Would it change things? He hoped it… Cedric hoped it wouldn’t change much. And if things did change, then he hoped it would be for the better.

The winter was still in its prime, and spring was still far away. But, the season would get there. Cedric too, would get ‘there’, wherever ‘there’ was, and he knew, that wherever ‘there’ was, Orube would be with him.

He felt a tug on his arm. He turned to look at Orube.

“Hey.”

The lights changed, and the crowd around them started to cross the street. Neither of them moved. Cedric watched their breaths form momentary mists again and again. Orube smiled.

“Thank you.”

The lights from every shop, every house, every corner blinked through the dream-like weather. He felt himself being pulled close, and a very familiar and dreamy warmth enveloping him, his face, and his lips.

Well, if this was a dream, then Cedric didn’t want to wake up.

\--

_As time goes on,_  
I realize  
Just what you mean to me  
And now,  
Now that you're near,  
Promise your love  
That I've waited to share  
And dreams  
Of our moments together  
Color my world with hope of loving you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In canon, Orube’s opinion regarding their relationship… is somehow something like this. The writers made an excuse to write her out, and it’s the perfect thing. They pull off the “The only time I was ever happy was when I was with you!” move, which negates a lot of things and reaffirms something about Orube’s character – she can hide a lot of things herself, namely feelings. She’s done this with Luba (it’s shit to think that Orube never cried for her master); she could do it again for Cedric… except that Heatherfield unlocked a part of her, that she had lost long ago, when she had to put on a mask to be the warrior her father wanted her to be.
> 
> Yeaaaah as Cedric claims here, she cries a lot. She canonically cried about Ray’s lonely piano music, the dramatic TV soaps, Matt’s feelings for Will, and Cedric’s death… oh, and when she didn’t want to go to school and be a warrior.
> 
> Also, it may seem that Orube’s confession was unnecessary, but it’s not. This fic may be happening solely from Cedric’s POV and may be focused on Cedric’s development, but it’s also Orube’s story.
> 
> One more chapter for the epilogue and a peek on their future. :) Also. Who knew that the song I borrowed the title from, would give everybody a peek of the whole plot of the fic?!??!


	11. Chapter 11

Ye Olde Bookshop was closed for a very important reason, and the reason was a meeting with the guardians’ group, now bigger and better. Hopefully.

Will. Matt. Irma. Taranee. Cornelia. Hay Lin. Orube. Cedric.

All eight of them sat around a single table, with many papers and documents on top. Apparently, some investigator hired by one of Galgheitta—err, Mrs. Rudolph’s paranoid friends discovered that… well… Orube lacked some documents to be legally living in there.

Sigh.

The good news was that she can finally formally live with Cedric. Matt, of course, did not treat that as good news. The guardians were more or less fine with the matter. They had to resolve something else that needed immediate attention, and that was on how Cedric can help Orube with her documents.

Speaking of immediate attention, Matt wanted to know what happened with the girls’, um, little adventure with Ludmoore. Apparently, the boy had been trying to live a normal Earth life, under Will’s insistence.

So Will started talking.

Cedric would say he wasn’t interested, but he was curious, and he knew Orube knew that. She glared at him while he was telling Will to stop with the nonsense…

Ironic how he was the one who ‘stopped with the nonsense’.

“So as I was saying,” Will said, “We figured out that the stones were located where we landed after our trip to Kandrakar. You know, when we got the map of the 12 portals?”

“Oh, what happened to that?” Orube asked.

“It came off after we got the Book of Elements off the wall.”

“So,” Matt asked, “You got the elemental stones easily?”

“Not quite,” Irma answered, “It was a bit of a chore to figure out where _exactly_ they were lying. Corny and Hay Lin accidentally switched powers while we were on the Earth Stone, and man! Hay-Hay was hypnotized and so was everyone, except Corny! We started attacking her! Things lead to stuff and… then the Air Stone… we were up high and…”

“It wasn’t a great experience,” Cornelia added, “But I guess I can thank Caleb for teaching Will how to use transposition. The drop was not very nice.”

“But it’s better to drop on your bed,” Hay Lin tried to assure, “Than on the ground after getting up fifty-something floors!”

“We were probably up the skies a thousand floors,” Taranee joked.

“Oh, right. We got to the top of that building without getting caught, thankfully, then we rode this stormy wind up high! I thought for sure that we were going off the planet. Goals, ugh! I could’ve reached the stars!”

“Ha, ha, glad you’re all safe.” Matt shifted topics. “But you rescued me before that, right? And what about Will’s stone? What was it? The Energy Stone?”

“Yeah.” Will chuckled. “The mayor’s precious jewel, on the coat-of-arms hanging in his office. You have no idea how difficult that last one was, and man, were we so thankful we got you out before that.”

“Yeah, it would’ve given Ludmoore more power.”

“But that’s the thing. He was weak, so I realized that we could force our entry into the book. Even without the stones, we were still stronger.”

“And remember!” Cornelia winked. “Even if we’re guardians, we’re humans, first and foremost!”

“And what about this guy?” Irma asked, pointing to Cedric. He only shrugged.

“He’s not exactly human, but…”

Cedric let himself comment, “Or, Ludmoore’s just an ass.” Deliberately. It made the table pause, and laugh out loud.

“Okay.” Matt shook his head. “You have some sense of humor in you. Just… please use that on our enemies, and not us.”

“I’ll try; no promises—UGH!” Cedric felt a jab on his shoulder. Ugh. Orube…

“So, you fight with him while he’s still recharging, you get me out, and you still get the stones,” Matt recounted, “Why did you get the stones, anyway?”

Will smiled. “The Oracle advised against it, but Endarno showed us another solution, anyway. There’s this strange device called the Power Valve, which can harness the energy from the stones. And because it’s our element, the energy went to us and gave us a power-up!”

“If the power was harnessed, then what did you give Ludmoore?”

“…a very small fraction of our power, which we couldn’t contain thanks to… certain complications.”

“Certain complications?”

“Before we rescued you, we were supposed to turn Cedric in and receive punishment for our… neglect of duty.”

Cedric still wasn’t comfortable talking about it, but he forced himself to listen to this. If he wanted the guardians to leave him in peace, he had to trust them, as well. He took Orube’s hand into his. She merely glanced at him with a small smile, before looking back at Will.

“Our powers are a little wonky now, and they make us really tired, like when Mom would make me clean our place.”

Good. Good that Will found a way to say things without going into unnecessary details.

“But of course, we needed to have an excuse to give the stones to Ludmoore. We had to pretend that we didn’t know how to harness their energy.”

“That’s risky.”

“But it worked, anyway. I guess he really wanted to have power, and when he did activate his power, we proceeded with beating him up, and forever trapping him in the book. Dean said that Ludmoore was somehow experimenting with the darkness in the elements, so we simply filled up everything with our light… like, you know, Orube! Orube, remember when we freed Yua?”

Yua… the name was familiar to Cedric. Maybe this was the mission they were recounting _back then_? Hm, he’d ask Orube later.

“But, it turned out we didn’t have much control over our increase in power yet, so... yeah. We ended up blowing the whole basement apart.”

“Not the whole thing!” Hay Lin corrected, “We peeled a layer or two off the walls, and the shelves went down and the books were… oh, um… is it okay to continue, Cedric?”

Cedric managed to smile. “You already fixed most of it, so I think it’s just fine.”

But was _everything_ fixed? He didn’t mean the shop, or the thing with Ludmoore. Cedric meant… _this_.

Was it fine to continue living this way?

“Hey.”

Cedric looked at Orube. She was really so sharp; she always knew when he’d get this… this negative. She leaned on his shoulder, watching Matt and the guardians talk.

“It’s crazy, isn’t it?” she asked, “But it’s not so bad, isn’t it?”

_The guardians, Matt Olsen, Kandrakar, Heatherfield, the insane humans…_

“Besides, I’m going to be here with you, anyway.”

He smiled, and leaned his head against hers. Well. He could live with that thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all very much for sticking with me these past months!
> 
> P.S. On the plan of a sequel...  
> How does Cedric and Orube maintaining a cafe sound like? Disaster, that is, when they've no idea how to run a food business, what human tastebuds prefer, and why customers keep being rude, despite the quality(TM) service that they're getting!


End file.
